The barrel of the bat popped over the protective netting that was installed before the start of the season to increase fan safety.

As Dylan Santos sat along the third base line in the 15th row, Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Steven Souza Jr. shattered his bat hitting an inside fastball.

A piece of a splintered bat cleared the newly extended safety netting at Fenway Park Wednesday night, slightly injuring a man who was seated near several children.

Santos said the piece of wood “headed right for me. There was no hiding from it.”

He put his arm up to protect himself, Santos said, and the bat fragment bruised his right thumb.


A security guard gave him an ice pack, and his hand does not hurt anymore, he said Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the Red Sox confirmed that a piece of a broken bat went into the stands but did not seriously injure anyone.

The team’s principal owner is John Henry, who also owns the Globe.

Several children were seated around Santos, he said.

“I remember a parent in the row in front of me leaning over his daughter to protect her. Luckily it came towards me and then I just thought about protecting myself,” he said. “It was a mixed emotion of, ‘Nice, this bat is coming towards me,’ and, ‘Oh no, this bat is coming towards me!’ ”

Santos said he did not expect to get hit because of the new netting.

“But I remember thinking when I first got there that it looked a little lower than I thought it would be,” he said, adding that it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“Better chance of me getting a foul ball or something,” he said.

J.D. Capelouto can be reached at jd.capelouto@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jdcapelouto.