Twins OF Span hits mom with foul ball

TAMPA, Fla., March 31 (UPI) -- Minnesota Twins outfielder Denard Span hit his mother with a foul ball Wednesday as she was sitting in the stands at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla.

Batting in the first inning of a Twins-New York Yankees spring training game, Span lined a foul off a pitch by Phil Hughes into the stands next to the Twins dugout, where it struck his mother, Wanda Wilson, in the upper chest.

Span immediately sprinted from the batter's box and climbed the railing into the stands to tend to his mother as security and paramedics approached. Umpires halted the game as the scene unfolded.

Wilson, wearing a Twins jersey with her son's name and number on it, was examined and later returned to watch from a different seat, The New York Times reported.

The newspaper said Span, a Tampa native, was gone after the game but posted a message on his Twitter account saying, "My mom is feeling OK right now!"

"It had to be really scary to be that young man," Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said.