If you’re a good player, the ball will find you. That’s a good axiom if you play basketball, football or soccer. It’s not exactly the best thing for a baseball player.

In the fifth inning of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs, the ball found Stephen Piscotty — a lot.

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Piscotty was hit on three separate occasions due to a combination of wild pitching, wild throwing and poor timing. The outfielder initially reached base after taking a pitch to elbow from Jake Arrieta. While sliding into second base minutes later, Piscotty was hit on the other elbow on a throw from catcher Willson Contreras. The final blow came as Piscotty scored on an infield hit only to get nailed in the head by a throw from Javier Baez.

After the play at the plate, Piscotty stayed on the ground for a few moments before finally exiting the game under his own power. Understandably, the Cardinals will want to check him out before subjecting him to any more torture on the bases.

It’s worth pointing out that none of the incidents looked intentional. These seemed more like a few throws that either got away or missed the mark entirely. Even mighty teams like Chicago and St. Louis experience bad luck on occasion.

The more pressing concern is obviously the health of Piscotty, who signed a six-year extension with a guaranteed $33.5 million on Monday. The 26-year-old has become one of the Cardinals’ cornerstones and not someone they want to try replacing any time soon.

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Schustee