Dodgers lose Justin Turner and Juan Uribe to injury on consecutive plays
Saturday night will not be looked back at as a high point in the Los Angeles Dodgers season. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Not only did they lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks rookie Archie Bradley in his major league debut. Not only did Clayton Kershaw get knocked around, allowing six runs in 6 1/3 innings. Not only did they fall to 2-3, which is good enough for sole possession of last place in the NL West. They managed to lose not one, but two third basemen to injury on consecutive plays in the third inning.
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Justin Turner, who was making the start for a resting Juan Uribe, was the first to go down after getting spiked on his left hand on a hard slide from A.J. Pollock.
Pollock was attempting to steal third on the play when the throw from catcher A.J. Ellis bounced and forced Turner to receive it on a short-hop. Turner was able to secure the ball and get his glove in position, but perhaps not the exact position he wanted. He caught Pollock’s spike on his exposed index finger and suffered a gash. The cut did not require stitches, but was obviously serious enough to force him from the game.
“It’s more long than deep,” said Turner. “I thought it was broken. The knuckle swelled up and I couldn’t move it. X-rays were negative, so that’s the good news.”
Unfortunately, that didn’t leave much time for stretching, which apparently cost Uribe.
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Immediately after the substitution, Paul Goldschmidt hit a bouncer that Uribe had to glove and throw on the move to get Goldschmidt. The torque and the movement proved too much for Uribe, who in the past has battled reoccurring hamstring issues. Following the inning, he walked gingerly to the Dodgers dugout and never returned. In fact, Alex Guerrero pinch-hit for him the following inning and amazingly finished out the game injury free.
As of Sunday, both injuries are considered day-to-day. Guerrero will get the start, but Uribe believes he’d be able to play if needed. That means emergency option Yasiel Puig, who moved to the infield for the final batter of Friday’s game, is not likely to see extended time at third base anytime soon.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
