Guardians' David Fry hospitalized after being hit in face by pitch during crucial win over Tigers

CLEVELAND (AP) — For a frightening moment, the AL Central race hardly mattered.

Guardians designated hitter David Fry was expected to be hospitalized overnight after he was hit in the face by a pitch from Detroit's Tarik Skubal in the sixth inning of Cleveland's 5-2 win over the Tigers on Tuesday night, a victory that deadlocked the division.

Fry squared around to try to bunt a 99 mph fastball from Skubal and the pitch struck him in the nose and mouth area. As Fry collapsed in the batter's box and immediately grabbed his bloodied face, a visibly shaken Skubal threw off his glove and cap as Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt and trainers rushed onto the field.

Fry laid in the dirt for several minutes before being slowly helped to his feet. He gave a thumbs-up signal as he sat up and was driven off in a cart.

The Guardians said Fry was being transported from Lutheran Medical Center to the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus for further testing and observation. The team said it would update Fry's condition Wednesday morning.

“It was straight to the face,” Vogt said, describing the impact on Fry that shook everyone inside Progressive Field. “We’re all thinking about David and his family right now. Obviously, we’re glad he is OK, but obviously it’s a really scary moment.”

Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, paced around the infield as Fry was being assisted. Following the game, Skubal, who allowed just two hits through the first five innings, said seeing Fry in distress was difficult.

“Really tough,” said the left-hander. “I’ve already reached out to him. I’m sure his phone is blowing up. I just want to make sure he’s all right. Obviously, he seemed like he was OK coming off the field and hopefully it stays that way.

"I know sometimes with those things that can change. So hopefully he’s all right. I look forward to hopefully at some point tonight or (Wednesday) morning getting a text from him and making sure he’s all good because there’s things that are bigger than the game and the health of him is more important than a baseball game.”

That's how Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan felt after watching Fry, an All-Star in 2024 who underwent offseason elbow surgery and didn't join the team until late May, go down.

“Definitely really scary,” Kwan said. “For David to even try something like that (bunt), that’s just who he is. Selfless kind of guy, and especially in a position like that, he’s a tough guy. Thankfully he had some humor when he came up, but you don’t want to see a guy that’s been with you pretty much the whole year.

“Obviously energy-wise, just who he is as a teammate, he’s meant so much to us as a team. It’s really scary, but thankfully he had some humor coming off the field, so hopefully we get some good news.”

Following the incident, Skubal threw a wild pitch to George Valera, who replaced Fry, allowing Cleveland to score. Skubal also had an error — he inexplicably tried to make a blind throw to first between his legs — and was also called for a balk in the sixth inning as the Guardians rallied for three runs to take a 3-2 lead without hitting a ball out of the infield.

With its 16th win in 18 games, Cleveland caught Detroit atop the division after trailing the Tigers by 15 1/2 games on July 8. The Guardians were still 12 1/2 games back on Aug. 25, but have gone 17-5 in September.

The Tigers, meanwhile, have dropped seven straight and 10 of 11.

“I feel like we’ve been this way for a couple of series now,” catcher Dillon Dingler said. "It’s not quite pressing but we definitely feel some of the pressure and we’ve got to mitigate it. We’ve got to eliminate it. We’ve still got to find ways to stay loose, focus in and hone in on what we need to do and go out there and do it.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Cleveland Guardians' Brayan Rocchio (4) and left fielder Steven Kwan, right, celebrate after the Guardians defeated the Detroit Tigers in ia baseball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

CORRECTION CORRECTS HITTING ON THE FACE BY PITCH - Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, left, attends to David Fry after Fry was hit in the face by a pitch in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Cleveland, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians' David Fry is hit in the face with his own bunt in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Cleveland, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians' David Fry falls back after being hit in the face with his own bunt in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Cleveland, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians' David Fry falls back after being hit in the face with his own bunt in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Cleveland, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, left, attends to David Fry after Fry was hit in the face with his own bunt in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Cleveland, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

ISLAMABAD (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. Navy would “immediately” begin a blockade of ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, after U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement.

U.S. Central Command announced that it will blockade all Iranian ports beginning Monday at 10 a.m. ET.

CENTCOM said the blockade will be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations.” It said it would still allow ships traveling between non-Iranian ports to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump wants to weaken Iran’s key leverage in the war after demanding that it reopen the strait to all global traffic on the waterway that was responsible for 20% of global oil shipping before fighting began.

Traffic in the Strait has been limited even in the days since the ceasefire. Marine trackers say over 40 commercial ships have crossed since the start of the ceasefire.

A U.S. blockade could further rattle global energy markets. “It’s going to be all or none, and that’s the way it is," Trump told Fox News.

Trump said on social media that he told the Navy to "seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.” He said other nations would be involved but did not name them.

Freedom of peaceful navigation is a basic principle of international maritime trade.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard later said the strait remained under Iran’s “full control” and was open for non-military vessels, but military ones would get a “forceful response,” two semi-official Iranian news agencies reported.

During the 21-hour talks, the U.S. military said two destroyers had transited the strait ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. Iran denied it.

Trump’s plan to use the Navy to block the strait is unrealistic and he will have to concede on some issues with Iran, said Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer in security studies at Kings College London. “There isn’t any tool in the toolbox in terms of the military lever that he could use to get his way,” Krieg said.

Trump said Tehran’s nuclear ambitions were at the core of the talks' failure. In comments to Fox News, he again threatened to strike civilian infrastructure.

Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who led Iran’s side, addressed Trump in a new statement on his return to Iran: “If you fight, we will fight.”

The face-to-face talks that ended early Sunday were the highest-level negotiations between the longtime rivals since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Neither indicated what will happen after the ceasefire expires on April 22.

“We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon,” said Vice President JD Vance, leading the U.S. side.

Iranian negotiators could not agree to all U.S. “red lines,” said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe positions on the record. These included Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon, ending uranium enrichment, dismantling major enrichment facilities and allowing retrieval of its highly enriched uranium, along with opening the Strait of Hormuz and ending funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi rebels.

Iranian officials said talks fell apart over two or three key issues, blaming what they called U.S. overreach. Qalibaf, who noted progress in negotiations, said it was time for the United States “to decide whether it can gain our trust or not.”

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue in the coming days. Iran said it was open to continuing dialogue, state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The European Union urged further diplomatic efforts. The foreign minister of Oman, located on the Strait of Hormuz's southern coast, called for parties to “make painful concessions." The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin “emphasized his readiness” to help bring about a diplomatic settlement in a call with Iran's president.

Iran’s nuclear program was at the center of tensions long before the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,055 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and damaged infrastructure in half a dozen countries.

Tehran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons but insists on its right to a civilian nuclear program. The landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump later pulled the U.S. out of, took well over a year of negotiations. Experts say Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, though not weapons-grade, is only a short technical step away.

An Iranian diplomatic official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of closed-door talks, denied that negotiations had failed over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Inside Iran, there was new exhaustion and anger after months of unrest that began with nationwide protests against economic issues and then political ones, followed by weeks of sheltering from U.S. and Israeli bombardment.

“We have never sought war. But if they try to win what they failed to win on the battlefield through talks, that’s absolutely unacceptable,” Mohammad Bagher Karami said in Tehran.

Elsewhere in the region, airstrikes calmed over the past day except in Lebanon.

Iran’s 10-point proposal for the talks called for a halt to Israeli strikes on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has said the ceasefire did not apply there, but Iran and Pakistan said it did.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited parts of southern Lebanon under Israeli control on Sunday, for the first time since the current fighting. Attacks on southern Lebanon have intensified alongside the ground invasion renewed after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel in the war’s opening days.

Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington after Israel’s surprise announcement authorizing talks despite their lack of official relations. Israel wants Lebanon to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, but the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades.

The day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people, according to the Health Ministry.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported six people were killed Sunday in Maaroub village near the coastal city of Tyre.

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Boak from Miami and Magdy from Cairo. E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing, Collin Binkley and Ben Finley in Washington, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Brian Melley in London, Ghaya Ben MBarek in Tunis and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.

Haifa Kenjo, who fled Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, holds her 15-day-old daughter Shiman inside the tent she uses as a shelter and where she gave birth to her in Beirut, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Haifa Kenjo, who fled Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, holds her 15-day-old daughter Shiman inside the tent she uses as a shelter and where she gave birth to her in Beirut, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Civilians and rescue workers search through rubble at the site of a building where efforts continue to recover the body of missing woman Zahraa Aboud, 26, after it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday, in central Beirut, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A women sits at a cafe in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Women walk past a banner depicting the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S. and Israel strikes on Feb. 28, in northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Vice President JD Vance walking on the tarmac for a planned refueling stop in Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Sunday, April 12, 2026, after attending talks on Iran. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, pool)

Vice President JD Vance, left, talks to Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, right, and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, center, before boarding Air Force Two after attending talks on Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

In this photo released by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, center right, and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center left, are greeted by Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, right, and Army Chief Field Marshal Gen. Asim Munir, left, upon their arrival at Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)

In this photo released by the Pakistan Prime Minister Office, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, left, meets with hand with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, April 11, 2026 (Pakistan Prime Minister Office via AP)

Vice President JD Vance, second left, shakes hands with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, as Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, left, Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces Chief of Army Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, third left, and Charge d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad Natalie A. Baker, right, look on, as he prepares to board Air Force Two after attending talks on Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Vice President JD Vance arrives for news conference after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks during a news conference after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran as Jared Kushner, left, and Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy for Peace Missions listen, on Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)