In the bottom of the eighth inning of a game at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas, Taylor Ward suffered a horrific injury. A very unfortunate one that might end his season, which has been his most productive one offensively of his career. The Los Angeles Angels were playing the third of a four-game wrap-around series against the Houston Astros on a 10-game road trip. Looking to win their 64th game of the 2025 regular season(in surpassing their total win amount from the previous season), the Halos grabbed a big lead over Houston with a solo home run by first baseman Oswald Peraza and got a couple of additional runs in the top of the eighth inning with an RBI double by Mike Trout and an infield single by Luis Rengifo that scored Trout on a throwing error by Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. Jose Soriano pitched an incredibly efficient seven innings with only one hit given up to the Astros with eight strikeouts and a couple of clutch double plays turned by the defense behind him.

Ward was at third base in the top of the eighth inning after the second run of the inning and could have scored to make it a 4-0 lead, but the Halos’ bottom third was unable to bring him in to score. Oddly enough, Ray Montgomery decided to make a defensive change in the bottom of the eighth inning as right fielder Matthew Lugo was taken out of the game and Bryce Teodosio came in to play in center field, thus pushing Jo Adell to right field. Little did the Angels know that another defensive change would have to be made as something terrible happened to their left-fielder with one out and nobody on base. Luis Garcia had come in to pitch in relief of Soriano, who was in line for his 10th win in a game that was a pitchers duel against All-Star Houston hurler Hunter Brown. Garcia got Yanier Diaz to fly out to center field to start the inning, then second baseman Ramon Urías came up to bat. Urías swung at the first pitch and the ball traveled to left-center field, with Ward tracking the ball. Unfortunately, he ran into a safety hazard at this 25+-year old ballpark as he collided with the corner of the left field wall that makes up the base for the Crawford Boxes segment of Daikin Park. Ward was unable to make the catch as he went face-first into the scoreboard on the wall(the outer-right edge of it) and he immediately had a bloody gash form on his eyebrow. Thankfully(or oddly enough), the Halos bullpen is located in left-center field past the Crawford Boxes below a balcony where fans can stand and watch the game. So, reliever Andrew Chafin came rushing out of the bullpen first and quickly applied a towel to Taylor’s bloody eyebrow. Immediately after Urías got in safely to second base with a double, the Angels training staff and Montgomery came out to check on Ward to see if he was alright. Ward was conscious, but in pain as the blood continued flowing down his face. The situation was so bad that some of the Astros trainers had to come out and help check on Ward and a couple of paramedics came to attend to the medical situation facing the Angels’ left-fielder. Ward was receiving top medical attention as the game went into a bit of a 10-minute delay with a cart being driven by another paramedic coming onto the warning track in the outfield. The cart made its way slowly over to left-center field and Ward was placed on it, with Angels trainer Eric Munson applying the towel to the right eyebrow of poor Taylor. Ward got carted off and Luis Rengifo had to go out to play in left field in place of Ward. Christian Moore came in to play at second base in pushing Rengifo out to left.

This was a horrific incident that occurred to Ward. It was a freak accident, without a doubt. Something that happens not as much to outfielders in terms of having a gash on the top of their head after colliding with the wall. There have been recent examples of outfielders injuring themselves with collisions with the outfield walls at different ballparks. For this season specifically, Victor Robles of the Seattle Mariners got himself hurt by diving into the extended netting in a game at Oracle Park against the San Francisco Giants. Robles broke his shoulder trying to make a catch and missed the next four months of game action. A couple of years ago, Aaron Judge collided with the right-field bullpen gate at Dodger Stadium and the great slugger for the New York Yankees had to miss a lot of time that cost his team dearly as they missed the playoffs. Even recently, the Astros suffered an injury to one of their outfielders as on Wed, Aug 27, 2025, Taylor Trammell collided with the center field wall at Comerica Park in Detroit, Mich., against the Tigers and he had to be assisted off the field. All of the mentioned players had to go on the injured list, so the same should be assumed for Ward, who has hit 30 home runs this season along with 94 RBIs. Along with his 30+ doubles, Ward is the only player in the American League with 30 homers and 30 or more two-baggers. The only other player with those numbers in MLB this season is New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso.

Losing Ward is another nail in the coffin of an Angels season that has gone down the drain with a rough August that only yielded 11 wins and this recent stretch after the Freeway Series against the Dodgers in Anaheim has yielded only five wins in the last two and a half weeks of play. The Halos have not won a series since that sweep over their regional rivals, although they got one step closer to winning a series by carrying on and finishing off the Astros after Ward’s injury. Luis Garcia pitched out of the jam and Kenley Jansen recorded his 25th save of the season by getting three of the strongest hitters that Houston has in their lineup out(Yordan Alvarez on a flyout, Jose Altuve on a groundout and Carlos Correa on a flyout, both fly outs were to Rengifo in left field fittingly). So, the Halos had a successful shutout of the Astros in beating them 3-0 and are one win away from achieving a series win against the Astros yet again in that menacing indoor ballpark that used to be called Minute Maid Park.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first traumatic injury for Taylor Ward regarding his face. In July 2023, he suffered a devastating facial fracture on a fastball thrown uncontrollably by then-Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah. Ward was done for the season and losing him was a major blow for an Angels team that was still looking to compete for a playoff spot in Shohei Ohtani’s final season in Halo red. The Angels struggled mightily after a trade deadline that featured a regrettable swap of two star prospects for two veteran pitchers, who were placed on the waiver wire at the end of Aug. 2023. Now, with Ward’s most recent(and more nasty) facial injury, he will more than likely be placed on the injured list and a potential outfielder(or infielder) might be called up from the minor leagues. Nelson Rada is a potential option as he has yet to make his big league debut while he has been developing in the system playing for the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas and the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees this season. A combination of guys could fill in for Ward in left field, but the main guy that will probably get the lion’s share of starts in this final month of the season is Matthew Lugo, who has corner outfield experience.

The roster shall expand to 28 players on Sept. 1 and that will mean two extra players on the roster. One of those additions will be a pitcher and the other shall be a position player. There has already been an addition to the starting rotation as Tyler Anderson was placed on the 15-day injured list with an oblique strain(after returning from the paternity list and pitching on short notice in the series opener against the Astros). Jose Ureña, who has appeared for four other major league teams this season, is slated to start a game in the Angels’ next series at Kauffman Stadium against the Kansas City Royals. Another starter could be called up from the minor leagues, such as one of the top pitching prospects in the Halos’ system such as Caden Dana, George Klassen or Sam Aldegheri to start another game in Kansas City against the Royals(the Angels have a desperate need for five available starting pitchers in a stretch that they are currently playing 17 straight days in a row). So, we shall see what the Angels’ rotation looks like going forward.

The Taylor Ward bloody eyebrow incident isn’t even the first freak accident to occur to an outfielder on the active roster in Aug 2025. Gustavo Campero suffered a broken ankle when colliding with the right-field wall at Angel Stadium on Mon, Aug 11 against the Dodgers in a game that he didn’t even start(he came in for Adell after he got ejected by the home plate umpire in this game). Campero had to be helped off the field by medical personnel and a cart that had to come out of the left-field gate to drive all the way to right field. A temporary cast was placed under his foot that allowed him to get up and stand in order to make his way safely to the cart. Campero was only present on the roster due to other injuries to veteran outfielders Jorge Soler and Chris Taylor, who have both yet to return from their respective injuries. The outfield is a complete mess, especially with the team’s unwillingness to have Mike Trout play in right field after he suffered a meniscus injury running to first base in late April of this season. With Trout being a de facto full-time designated hitter, right field has been a revolving door and due to Soler’s injury, Adell was forced over to right field while Bryce Teodosio has taken over in center field. Taylor Ward has been a steady presence in left field, and in spite of some hitting lulls that he has gone through this season(specifically when playing at home, his road stats are very superb), he has had the best season of his career so far. This facial injury(if devastating enough) could end Ward’s season and deny him the chance to hit more home runs and achieve 100 RBIs on the season. Ward was also competing for a Silver Slugger award in left field in the American League with Riley Greene of the Tigers(whose stats offensively are very similar to Ward’s). Greene could easily have the award to himself now with Ward being out. So, that’s a bummer as well.

In terms of the dimensions at Daikin Park, they are unique but also risky. Specifically in that corner between the Crawford Boxes and left-center field. Renovations have been made to the dimensions at that ballpark before, as the Astros formerly had “Tal’s Hill” in dead center field and got rid of it before the 2017 season. So, potentially adding a solidified wall behind the left-field visitors bullpen could make for a safer experience for outfielders tracking balls hit high in the air in the left-center field area. These incidents are rare to see, but the average fan never wants to see something dangerous and ugly happen. Whether it’s a player on the opposing team or a player on a team that fans are rooting for, there should never be any thoughts of wanting a severe injury to happen. When those types of things happen, they are horrible and a reminder that baseball isn’t a fully safe sport. It’s not as debilitating as football is, but it is still risky, especially when chasing after hard-hit balls and trying to avoid getting hit by fast-pitched ones. Teams should focus on what they can control in terms of making dimensions more safe for all players and less risky. The outfield dimension in Daikin Park’s left-field section isn’t really found at any other major league ballpark throughout the country, so it definitely stands out above the rest. Probably for worse rather than better for now. Hopefully no other left-fielder will have to go through something bad like Taylor Ward did and in the grind of the baseball season, this incident will likely be forgotten by most fans(other than Angels fans and those in attendance on Sun, Aug 31, 2025 on a stormy day in Houston, Tex, where some rain drops were actually leaking from the ceiling of the retractable-roof ballpark) as it is always onto the next game in a 162-game season.