Cleveland Indians slugger Carlos Santana exits game after being struck by foul ball

UPDATE (11:24 ET): Santana has been diagnosed with a contusion on the right side of his head.

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10:43 ET: Cleveland Indians first baseman and DH Carlos Santana was struck by a foul ball off the bat of teammate Francisco Lindor Thursday night, and forced to exit the game. Santana was in the dugout during the bottom of the fifth inning, standing near the railing, when Lindor yanked a pitch that appeared to strike Santana in the back of the head or neck.

Lindor and other teammates were visibly disturbed, and the game was delayed for a couple minutes while Indians medical personal attended to Santana. Carlos was eventually helped from the dugout to the clubhouse, and at this time there have not yet been any updates on his status.

Earlier in the night, Santana led off the Indians' half of the game with his 25th home run of the season, putting him just two shy of his career high. It was Santana's fifth leadoff home run of the season, putting him just two shy of the franchise record for leadoff blasts, set by Grady Sizemore in 2008. Kenny Lofton in 1999 and Shin-Soo Choo in 2012 each also hit five leadoff home runs.

The Tribe offense has been better than expected this season, but with the team in a fight with Detroit for the AL Central, the loss of any starter for an extended period of time would be a blow. Hopefully we soon receive word that Santana escaped the incident with nothing worse than a bad bruise and perhaps a headache.