September 23—Oakland Athletics right-hander, Chris Bassitt will start today in the four-game series finale against the Mariners, in his first appearance since taking a scary, hard-hit blow to the face off the bat of Brian Goodwin on August 17 at Guaranteed Rate field. Bassitt underwent successful facial surgery to microplate a tripod fracture and to debride (i.e., remove damaged tissue from) other small fracture sites on August 24th at Rush Medical Center in Chicago. “I don’t need my face to pitch,” said Bassitt when he resumed throwing on September 10th. The healing process will continue for months, and there may be some lasting effects from nerve damage sustained in the injury.
See his post-game comments from mlb.com: