SAN FRANCISCO — Tigers pitcher Doug Fister will forever be known as a tough guy — even if he was the losing pitcher Thursday night.
In the second inning of Game 2 of the World Series, the Giants' Gregor Blanco hit a line drive right at Fister, who ducked but still got hit on the right side of his head.
Athletic trainer Kevin Rand and manager Jim Leyland ran out to the mound to check on Fister. FOX's audio feed had Rand giving Fister a quick concussion test.
Fister immediately answered, "San Francisco. Game 2."
Rand then asked if Fister knew how many outs there were.
"Two," Fister replied.
"Get the third," Rand said.
Fister eventually did. After walking Brandon Crawford to load the bases, he induced pitcher Madison Bumgarner to pop out.
Fister pitched into the seventh inning, giving up just four hits, before turning the ball over to Drew Smyly.
Still, Fister took the loss because Hunter Pence, who singled off Fister to start the seventh, came around to score.
And the Tigers couldn't score against Bumgarner — or anybody else — in a 2-0 defeat.
Fister said he never saw stars, didn't get a headache and wanted to stay in the game following the blow to the head.
"I'm not concerned," Fister said. "I've got a minor bump.
"According to my dad, my whole life, his saying has always been, if I got hit in the head, I'm OK. So that's how I'm taking it."
Fister wasn't worried, but a lot of others were.
"I was scared to death when it happened," Leyland said. "I didn't really realize exactly how it hit him. It kind of grazed, I want to say the side of his head, the back of his head.
"It's a little scary for a manager because you never know if there's a later reaction with something like that."
Reliever Octavio Dotel knows how vulnerable a pitcher is after he releases the ball.
"I was scared, but he's got a big heart and he said, 'No, I'm in. I want to keep pitching,'" Dotel said. "I was surprised (he stayed in) because the ball hit him in the head.
"That's a little bit risk to keep him in the game, but I guess he was fine. I guess the ball doesn't hit him that hard."
There have been incidences where people have been hit in the head and suffered a subdural hematoma, when blood collects on the surface of the brain.
Dr. Frank Longo, the chair of neurology at Stanford University, told FOXSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi that it would be appropriate for any pitcher hit in the head to be immediately removed from a game.
At the moment it happened and after the game, Fister insisted he didn't have any symptoms that would indicate he had a concussion or any other injury.
His team, on the other hand, is smarting and in big trouble -- in an 2-0 hole.
Game 3 is Saturday night in Detroit.
