After what The Athletic described as “6 hours and 39 minutes of madness,” the Los Angeles Dodgers came away with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game Three of the World Series, with a walk-off home run by nine-time All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the 18th inning.
But for Toronto, the loss went past simply a single World Series defeat that set them back 2-1 in the series against the Dodgers. In the seventh inning, the Blue Jays’ four-time All-Star George Springer â who had already been hit by two pitches, both painfully, in this postseason but continued to play â was forced to leave the game after appearing to experience discomfort in his right side after a swing.
As of about 5 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, Springer’s status for Game Four â scheduled to get underway shortly after 8 p.m. â was yet to be determined. Though the Dodgers has their lineup posted by that time, the Blue Jays had not yet revealed their batting order and starting lineup for the game.
According to MLB.com reporter Keegan Matheson, the Blue Jays at that time were “still deciding if (Springer) will start or be on the bench, but it doesnât sound like there will be a move today.”
If the team placed Springer on the injured list, he could be replaced on the roster for the remainder of the series. But with just over an hour to who before game time the Blue Jays had not made that decision.
Springer Now ‘Hour to Hour
Manager John Schneider said Springer’s status was “hour to hour.”
“No Blue Jays lineup as George Springer is still being checked out, said manager John Schneider,” according to Sportsnet reporter She Davidi, who quoted Schneider as saying, âMRI showed that he’s hour-to-hour, day-to-day, so just see how he kind of navigates the next couple hours.â
The right-swinging Springer led off the top of the seventh with the score tied at 4-4, to face Dodgers lefty reliever Justin Wrobleski. On the first pitch from Wrobleski, a 96 mph sinker, Springer swung hard and fouled the ball off, immediately wincing and grabbing at his right side.
After a visit from a team trainer and Schneider, Springer walked off the field and to the visiting team’s clubhouse in Dodger Stadium.
Oblique Injury Feared for Springer
The Blue Jays later listed Springer on the team’s injury report as suffering from “right side discomfort.”
“The initial fear was an oblique injury, given the area Springer was grabbing,” reported MLB.com Blue Jays correspondent MartÃn Gallegos.
The team announced that Springer was sent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests, but the results of those tests had not been made public by Tuesday afternoon, just three hours before Game Four of the World Series was set to get underway at Dodger Stadium.
“We’ll see how it comes back,” Schneider told reporters after the 18-inning game, as quoted by USA Today. “But it sucks. He’s obviously a huge part of our lineup. Glad I got him out when I did and hopefully it didn’t make anything worse, but we’ll see how he is tomorrow.”
Oblique Would Mean 4 to 8-Week Recovery
Whether Springer’s injury is indeed a strain to the oblique muscle has not been determined, but if it is, the 36-year-old is likely out for the remainder of the World Series.
According to the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society, the oblique is “a pair of muscles along with the pelvic and hip musculature that make up the core.”
For a big league baseball player, an injury to the oblique “puts the brakes on a season very quickly, as most of these injuries require an extensive shut down (in most cases 4 weeks, but up to 8 weeks),” according to the PBATS.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post George Springer Injury Update: Will Blue Jays Star Play in Game 4? appeared first on Heavy Sports.