Girl hit by baseball has surgery

LOS ANGELES, June 8 (UPI) -- A 3-year-old girl hit by a baseball while watching batting practice at Dodger Stadium had surgery Tuesday and was expected to recover, her doctor said.

The girl suffered a fractured skull when a line drive hit by Dodgers catcher Russell Martin struck her about 5:30 p.m. Monday. The unidentified girl was in the stands near third base at the time.

"The surgery went well and we anticipate a full recovery," Dr. J. Gordon McComb, head of the Division of Neurosurgery for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported. "We expect she'll be able to go home by the end of the week."

A visibly shaken Martin shook his head in disbelief and looked up into the stands as the girl's father carried her unresponsive body up the stairs to a first aid station.

Martin has offered to pay all the girl's medical expenses, a club spokesman said.

"As soon as it hit, I heard the sound, I knew it wasn't a good sound. And then I saw him grab her, it didn't look like she was moving, so that was scary," Martin told MLB.com. "I mean, I've hit somebody before, but not where they had to be rushed to the hospital."