Houston Astros' Colin Moran hits foul ball off of face, lands on DL

July 23 (UPI) -- Rookie Colin Moran was taken to the hospital Saturday after hitting a foul ball off of his own eye in the Houston Astros' 8-4 win against the Baltimore Orioles.

The play happened in the sixth inning, with the Astros trailing 4-3. Moran stepped into the box and hacked at the first offering from Orioles righty Darren O'Day. He deflected the pitch for a foul ball, but sent the baseball straight up toward his face. The ball hit near the third baseman's left eye.

Moran, 24, walked off to the side of the plate after taking the slider ricochet to his head. He had a mark on his check and eye. He sat on the ground with medical personnel briefly before being carted off to right field.

Hinch told reporters that Moran was evaluated for "everything from a concussion to a fracture" at the hospital. He also expected Moran to be on the disabled list.

"You hate for a guy like that [to get hurt], especially because he's swinging the bat well right now, but more than that, just as a teammate and a member of his baseball family that we obviously wish him a quick recovery," Astros starter Collin McHugh told MLB.com. "I had to look away because I don't like seeing things like that. We got a great training staff, top-notch staff that helps with recovery, so hopefully it's not too bad and we can see him back out here real soon."

Moran went 1-for-2 in the contest, just his second career appearance since being called up on Tuesday.

Marwin Gonzalez stepped in to replace Moran after the at-bat. He proceeded to hit a three-run bomb off of O'Day to put the Astros out front.

Moran hit his first career home run in the Astros' 8-7 win Friday against the Orioles. The Astros look to sweep the three game series at 1:35 p.m. Sunday at Orioles Park at Camden Yards. Houston (65-32) has the second-best record in baseball and leads the American League West by 17 games, which is a bigger division lead than any other team in the league.

Moran is 3-for-6 at the plate this season.

Houston put the third baseman on the 10-day disabled list on Sunday, due to a facial fracture. The Astros called up infielder Tyler White from Triple-A Fresno.