Larry W. Smith / EPA

Rangers slugger Sammy Sosa is looked over after being hit in the helmet by a pitch.

updated 8:25 p.m. ET May 4, 2007

ARLINGTON, Texas - Sammy Sosa was back at designated hitter for the Texas Rangers on Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays, one day after getting beaned by a 94 mph fastball.

Sosa, who started Friday night five homers away from becoming the fifth player in major league history with 600 homers, was struck on the side of the helmet by a pitch from New York Yankees’ reliever Brian Bruney in the sixth inning of the second game of a doubleheader Thursday.

The helmet flipped several feet into the air and Sosa fell to his knees. He stayed there for a few minutes while he was attended to by Rangers medical personnel. Sosa was removed from the game and walked slowly to the dugout without assistance.

Sosa was taken to a local hospital for tests Thursday night, and doctors determined that he sustained no concussion or other damage to his head.

“I’m great, I’m alive,” Sosa said with a smile prior to the game Friday night. “It’s just part of the game. I got hit, I didn’t get shot. I’m OK, ready to go. I went to the doctor and everything is perfect.”

Rangers manager Ron Washington said Sosa didn’t want a day off to collect himself.

“He was more afraid than anything else,” Washington said. “We just wanted to make sure he was fine when he got here today. He said he wanted to be in the lineup, so he is.”

Washington said it was obvious that Bruney didn’t try to intentionally throw at Sosa.

“I just thought the ball got away,” Washington said.

While a member of the Chicago Cubs, Sosa had his helmet shattered by a beaning from a fastball by Salomon Torres of the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 20, 2003.

Sosa, who didn’t miss a game after getting hit then, did not want to discuss that incident.

“End of the conversation,” Sosa said. “I don’t want to hear no negative stuff. I’m all right. Let’s go forward.”

Said Washington: “I don’t blame him. It’s not a good memory.”

Washington said the concern about Sosa will be “whether he’s shy when he gets up there. When he got hit in Chicago, it affected him. So we don’t know. But he wants to get back in the fire. We’ll find out if he’s shying away or not.”

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