Verlander throws pretty hard. I think maybe he was wearing a cup but the impact of the pitch still caused an injury.
Yeah, it can, now that I think about it because it happened to me a couple of times - the edge gets driven at the right angle. However, I can think of two Mariners players who didn't and paid this exact price: pitcher Jose Paniagua and third baseman Adrian Beltre. Paniagua got smacked by a hard come-backer and the entire stadium groaned.