Cardinals right fielder Stephen Piscotty, who was hit in the head by a thrown ball on Tuesday night, can return to action after passing MLB's concussion protocol on Wednesday.

Piscotty left the game Tuesday after being struck in the head by a throw from Cubs second baseman Javier Baez as Piscotty was sliding into home plate. He suffered a head bruise and was evaluated after the game.

"I definitely didn't black out, but I was stunned and didn't realize what happened," Piscotty told reporters Wednesday. "After a few seconds, I just kind of figured I got hit in the face or something. But thankfully that helmet flap was there and took most of the force of it."

Piscotty reached base when Jake Arrieta hit him in the right elbow with a pitch, and he advanced to second on a wild pitch -- but not before he was struck in the left elbow by a throw from Cubs catcher Willson Contreras. When Kolten Wong hit a dribbler past Arrieta for an infield hit, Piscotty kept coming from second and scored. Contreras missed the throw from Baez, and it caught Piscotty on the left ear flap of his batting helmet as he was sliding feetfirst.

"I haven't seen that before, and to actually live it was pretty crazy," Piscotty said of his treacherous trip around the bases. "I'm glad I'm OK. It was hard to believe that it happened in one trip around the bases. After it was over and whatnot, it's kind of funny to look back on since I'm OK. But yeah, it's something I'm not going to forget."

Piscotty was afforded an extra day to recover when the game Wednesday against the Cubs was postponed because of rain.

"We'll take today to take it easy and see how it feels," manager Mike Matheny said. "It's good to get the other guys involved, too."

On Monday, Piscotty signed a six-year, $33.5 million extension with the Cardinals.

ESPN's Mark Saxon contributed to this report.