Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd was hit by a pitch in his first rehab start with the Iowa Cubs on Monday night in Des Moines, Iowa.
"I thought I'd have the jitters, but I didn't," Byrd told the Des Moines Register. "I got hit by a pitch. That was something I needed."
Byrd, who remained in the game after Albuquerque's John Ely struck him in the left shoulder, has been on the disabled list since a May 21 beaning in Boston that left him with facial fractures.
"I turned into it, I needed something like that," Byrd told The Register.
Byrd batted in the leadoff spot on Monday and played 10 innings. He flew out to left in the first inning, was hit and scored in the third and grounded out to shortstop in the fourth. He drew a walk and stole second base in the seventh and lined out to center in the ninth. He left the game for a pinch-hitter with the game tied in the bottom of the 11th.
Ely also hit Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney, who is at Iowa rehabbing a left knee PCL sprain, in the first inning.
Byrd said last week that he expected to remain in Iowa until the end of their July 3 homestand, and return to the Cubs for their July 4 contest against the Nationals in Washington.
"I'm planning on 5-7 games here," Byrd told the newspaper.
He was hitting .308 with three home runs and 44 RBIs when he was hit in the left side of the face by Alfredo Aceves and suffered multiple fractures of the left cheek.