Rockies pitcher has surgery on broken neck

Colorado Rockies pitcher Juan Nicasio had surgery to stabilize a broken vertebra in his neck, a day after he was struck in the head by a line drive in a Major League Baseball game. Rockies trainer Keith Dugger said neurosurgeon Peter Witt inserted two screws into the damaged vertebra and also placed a small metal plate on the back of the Nicasio's neck. The 24-year-old player remains under sedation in the hospital but has movement in all of his extremities, the team said. "He can move his arms. He can talk. He can sit up with help," Dugger said. "He remembers every detail of that game, including that pitch. "He was squeezing my hand so tight in the room today. It's a good sign. I'm optimistic, but we just don't know. We'll know more once we start getting into the therapy, at about the six-week mark." Nicasio was hurt in the second inning of the Rockies' game on Friday when a drive off the bat of Washington's Ian Desmond hit the right side of his head. Nicasio crumpled to the mound and lay there several minutes as he was tended by team medical staff. "It scares you to death to see that happen," Rockies reliever Rex Brothers said. "It hurts your heart a little bit, too, because everybody knows how good of a guy Juan is." Dugger said Nicasio's injuries are the type more usually associated with a car accident or perhaps diving into water and hitting a rock. "We just don't see it that much in football or even in baseball," Dugger said. "It doesn't get any scarier than this type of incident for us."