A woman suffered serious injuries after she was struck in the face by an errant bat at Fenway Park on Friday but is expected to survive, according to a police spokeswoman.

Tonya Carpenter is in serious but stable condition in hospital as of Saturday afternoon, and the family is requesting privacy during her stay, reports Laura Krantz of the Boston Globe.

"Tonya's family and loved ones are grateful to all who have reached out with thoughts and prayers but are requesting privacy at this time as Tonya recovers," her family said in a statement Saturday.

Carpenter suffered her injuries in the second inning of a game between the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics, when a piece of A's third baseman Brett Lawrie's broken bat flew into the second row of seats along the third base line.

The game was halted for a few minutes as paramedics rushed Carpenter to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

She was sitting with her husband and son, who were not harmed.

After the game, Red Sox manager John Farrell spoke about the incident:

Our thoughts and concern and certainly our prayers go out to the woman who was struck with the bat, her, and her family. All you can think about is a family coming to a ballgame to hopefully get three hours of enjoyment and unfortunately with how close our stands are to the field of action ... an accident like this tonight, it's certainly disturbing.

"Just terrible. My prayers go out," Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said.