BOSTON (CBS) – A Red Sox fan was briefly hospitalized after he was bloodied by a piece of broken bat during Saturday's game at Fenway Park.

A Red Sox spokesman said the fan was sitting a few rows behind the recently installed protective netting when a piece of broken bat hit him in the head during the first inning of the team's game versus the Houston Astros.

The piece of bat went over the nearly 10-foot-high netting that goes from dugout to dugout and struck the fan.

"I saw the bat split, go over. I saw the person it hit..(and) blood. It was kind of difficult to watch," said one witness.

Another witness told WBZ, "They should have a top on the net. They shouldn't go to 12 feet and stop."

The injured fan remained conscious and was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for a few stitches. He received further medical attention there and released a short time later.

Major League Baseball suggested ball parks make the move in part because of two accidents at Fenway last year. A woman suffered life-threatening injuries from a flying bat and a ball hit another woman in the face.

Earlier in the season, another fan sitting behind the extended netting was hit by a shattered bat. He was not injured.

WBZ-TV's Katie Brace contributed to this report.