Las Vegas A’s rookie infielder Joshua Kuroda-Grauder ruptured his testicle fouling off an 85-mile-per-hour slider during a game at Chase Field on Monday, July 20 — and still finished his at-bat with a single before undergoing emergency surgery.

Kuroda-Grauder had already made history earlier that game, hitting his first Major League home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The A’s posted the moment on social media with the caption: “So long ball!”

In his third at-bat, the 23-year-old fouled a pitch off himself and went down. After a lengthy pause in the game, he composed himself, finished the at-bat and lined a base hit to center field. He then returned to play third base in the bottom of the inning before being removed for injury.

Diamondbacks urologist Dr. Al Borhan was called in to perform the emergency surgery.

“He said you’re up, it’s like the bat signal was out,” Borhan said. “I said I’m not on call; he said this is one that requires your skills.”

Borhan said he has performed this type of surgery about 100 times for everyday patients, but only 4 times for a Major League Baseball player. While he could not divulge many details about the procedure, he said if Kuroda-Grauder had waited longer to seek treatment, it could have made the injury worse or led to long-term problems.

“It’s kind of like putting an egg back together; you just have to put it back together,” Borhan said.

The overnight surgery ended around 3 a.m. Borhan said he was confident in a good recovery. He also agreed to speak publicly in hopes that other men who might be inclined to tough out a similar injury would take it seriously and get it checked out.

A’s Manager Mark Kotsay said Kuroda-Grauder was joking about the injury the day after surgery. There is no timetable for his return, and the injury is not expected to have any long-term impact on his life.

Kotsay credited his rookie’s toughness.

“He might be the only player in MLB history to fracture a testicle, stay in the game, get a hit, not only that, play a half inning of defense,” Kotsay said. “It shows the fight this kid has.”

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