David Price pulled from spring training start after toweling off too hard

In what may be a baseball first, a pitcher had to throw in the towel on a start after sustaining an injury from an actual towel.

Sounds strange, but it's true: Tampa Bay Rays lefty David Price had to leave Wednesday's spring training game against Detroit on Wednesday after he somehow screwed up the simple act of drying his sweaty head with a towel in the dugout.

Price had been scheduled for three innings of work, but was only able to complete two. Afterward, he not only explained to reporters how this could possibly happen, but that this wasn't the first time he's had a run-in with a spasm-inducing sham!

From the Tampa Bay Times:

"I was just drying my head off in between innings,'' he said. "It's happened to me two times before. The towel just catches the back of my head and it pulls my neck forward. I just felt it a little bit in back of my neck and just wanted to be cautious with it. ... It's spasms, there's a little pop and it just spasms up and gets a little tight.''

Price said he should okay in two-three days and doesn't expect it to impact his next start.

So for those of you keeping score at home, Price was able to escape an offseason confrontation with a man who was urinating on his car without incident but had no such luck when it came to meeting a soft piece of fabric designed to increase his performance.

Not that we're surprised to hear about home goods causing trouble in the baseball world. Brandon Inge went on the DL lifting some pillows a few years back while Jeff Suppan blamed the quality of the pillows at his spring training digs for a DL stint of his own.

Rays manager Joe Maddon, of course, took the opportunity to poke fun at his pitcher, suggesting that Price either adopt a different drying technique or opting for a few "cornermen" to take care of his noggin in future outings.

Personally, we think the former would be the better route to take.

Yes, dabbing that dome is definitely the way to go.

Spring training has started, so don't miss a beat ...
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