Justin Verlander calls for further protective measures after fan injured by foul ball

Friday's game between the Tigers and Rangers at Comerica Park was delayed seven minutes during the eighth inning after a fan was struck in the face by an Anthony Gose foul ball.

The fan was seated behind the Tigers home dugout at Comerica Park, which is located on the third base side. Gose was way behind the pitch from Rangers reliever Keone Kela and sent a line drive into the seats that the fan either didn't see or didn't have time to react to.

As evidenced by photos from the scene, the female fan was struck on the right side of her head, near her temple.

Fans sitting nearby immediately called for help and gestured for ushers to come down. Very soon after, medical personnel arrived on the scene to tend to the fan. She was placed in a neck brace and taken from the stadium by stretcher, but reportedly never lost consciousness.

The Tigers are expected to update the fan's condition prior to Saturday's game against Texas.

This was just the latest heart-stopping scene involving fans this season. The most serious incident occurred in Boston, where Red Sox fan Tonya Carpenter spent a week in the hospital with a head injury after being hit by the barrel of a broken bat.

At the time, several players and coaches from the Red Sox and their opponents, the Oakland A's, stood up and said more has to be done to protect fans. Justin Verlander, who started Friday's game for Detroit, was of the same opinion after the game. He took to his personal Twitter account to encourage baseball to take action now before it's too late.

Added Verlander to the media.

Teams aren't going to move back the seats, so extra netting seems to be the most viable solution. The only question is whether it should go to the near end or far end of both dugouts. Foul pole to foul pole would seem excessive, but around and behind the dugouts is where most of these scary incidents seem to occur.

It's not something that's likely to change this season, which is kinda scary. But it's something that needs to be a priority topic during the offseason.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813