The Los Angeles Dodgers played one of their best all-around games on Thursday against the Atlanta Braves, coming away with an 8-2 victory in the series opener between two of the National League’s best.
There was one injury scare for the Dodgers though in the eighth inning when rookie outfielder Alex Verdugo was chasing after a fly ball in foul territory. Verdugo was hustling hard to try and catch the ball and may have lost track of where the wall was.
The ball went out of play, but Verdugo made a sliding attempt for it and wound up colliding hard into the wall. He got up right away but was jogging with a noticeable limp as he appeared to be in some pain.
Verdugo wound up being able to stay in the game to finish out the victory, and according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, came away from the play uninjured, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“He’s young, resilient, made a good play going after that [Preston Tucker double] in the ninth, so I think he’s fine.” — Roberts, on right fielder Verdugo, who appeared to injure his right leg sliding into the wall chasing an eighth-inning foul ball, but remained in the game
Verdugo was recently called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City for his second stint with the big club this past week after Justin Turner went down with a groin injury.
So if he were to get hurt that would have been both a tough break for Verdugo, who is trying to prove that he belongs at the big league level, and for the Dodgers, who have already been forced to deal with a number of key injuries this season.
As Roberts mentioned though, Verdugo was able to make a nice play on a ball in the gap an inning later and he looked to be 100 percent healthy while doing it. He also went 2-for-4 at the plate, driving in a key run early in the game.
That being said, Verdugo may be on borrowed time anyway, as the Dodgers are expected to activate Yasiel Puig off the 10-day disabled list Saturday.
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