The pitcher’s wife and oldest son, 2-year-old Mattix, were watching the game on television. He spoke to both of them from the hospital, where Francona and pitching coach Dave Wallace visited him.

“He laughed a lot. He was Matt. He just had a bump on his head,” the manager said, adding that he was amazed Clement wasn’t injured more seriously.

Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella was relieved to hear there was no concussion.

“It’s a dangerous thing. It scares the heck out of you. It shows you how defenseless a pitcher is at times,” Piniella said.

Crawford planned to try to reach the pitcher and talk to him.

“You never want to see something like that,” Crawford said. “I hope the best for him. Hopefully, he’s going to recover well.”

Although Francona said he had been unable to bring himself to watch replays, Clement had done it over and over.

“It’s not something I want to watch a lot, but I didn’t have much choice. It was on about every station. If I wanted to watch TV and pass time, I had to see it. I didn’t enjoy watching it, but it didn’t bother me too much,” Clement said.

The right-hander said it’s too early to speculate about when he’ll make his next start.

It’s too soon, too, to say whether he’ll have extra anxiety about taking the mound again.

“As of right now, it’s not a fear. I’m not dreading doing it again,” Clement said. “But I guess you’ll never know until you’re out there.”

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