On Thursday night in Milwaukee, Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton was struck in the face during the fifth inning by a pitch from Brewers right-hander Mike Fiers. Stanton immediately started bleeding and writhing on the ground. He remained there for several minutes before being carted off.

Per the Marlins, Stanton, after being transported to a nearby hospital for X-rays and a CT scan, was found to have facial lacerations (which required stitches), multiple facial fractures and dental damage. He'll remain hospitalized overnight before returning to Miami on Friday for further evaluation. 

Here's a look at what happened:

After this incident, things took a turn for the bizarre. Stanton wasn't even awarded a base, as the ump ruled that he went around on his swing. So Stanton was replaced by pinch-hitter Reed Johnson.

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, for reasons sufficient unto himself, left a clearly shaken Fiers in the game, and he promptly struck Johnson on the hand with his first pitch to him.

At that point, benches cleared (here's video), and both Marlins manager Mike Redmond and current Marlin/former Brewer Casey McGehee were ejected. At that point, the ump ruled that Johnson, like Stanton, had swung despite being struck by the ball. So he struck out.

And then this happened in the sixth ... 

The Brewers wound up winning the game by a score of 4-2, and Fiers was credited with the win.

This pretty much sums things up from the Miami standpoint:

Finally, here's an important post-script ... 

Fiers also took to Twitter to apologize to Stanton:

Our best wishes go out to Stanton for a speedy and full recovery.