Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

The saga of Braves minor league manager Luis Salazar took a sad twist Wednesday morning, when doctors announced they were unable to save his left eye following surgery Tuesday night.

Salazar was hit in the face while standing in the Braves dugout by a Brian McCann line drive during the first inning of Atlanta’s March 9 exhibition game against St. Louis. He was knocked unconscious and, after falling face-first to the dugout floor, was rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center.

“Despite the best efforts of really skilled eye specialists here in Orlando, they were not able to save his eye,” Braves general manager Frank Wren told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday morning. “He had surgery yesterday, and they removed the eye.

“As the doctor told us from the very beginning, the big picture, this is a really good outcome. He’s alive.”

“It was awful. He was knocked out the minute the ball hit him,” said Braves veteran Chipper Jones, who was standing on first base when the incident happened last week. “A ball hit that hard, from that close a distance could kill you. And for awhile, we weren’t sure. I’ve seen a guy get hit in the nose with a 90 mph fast ball, and that was the worst on-field accident I had seen — before today.”

Salazar is in his first year with the Braves organization but his ninth as a minor league manager in baseball. He was expected to be managing the Class A Lynchburg Hillcats in the Atlanta organization.

He played 13 seasons in the Major Leagues, with the Padres, White Sox, Tigers and Cubs.

WRITTEN BY JON COOPER FOXSportsSouth.com & FULL STORY HERE