Brett Lawrie leaves game, considered day-to-day for Toronto Blue Jays

Toronto Blue Jays’ third baseman Brett Lawrie left tonight’s game against the New York Yankees after he was hit on the left hand with a pitch in the fourth inning.

Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com’s speedy fingers delivered the news first on Twitter.

Lawrie grimaced in pain after he was hit with what looked like a breaking ball, which was clocked at 83 MPH according to the stadium radar gun. At first Lawrie remained in the game, scored a run and played another inning at third but didn’t come out again after that.

The good news is obviously the injury doesn’t sound serious but with Adam Lind already on the DL the Blue Jays aren’t left with much of a bench if Lawrie does in fact miss any time and Lind remains out of the lineup. At least for the short term it will probably Juan Francisco, Steven Tolleson and Munenori Kawasaki who split reps at third, depending on the pitcher and situation.

Lawrie was swinging a hot bat in May and slashed .287/.333/.436 for the month but has cooled off a bit in June with a .700 OPS. Regardless if he misses much time it will be a blow to the Blue Jays offense, which is one that has struggled to score runs of late.

Update:

According to John Lott of the National Post, Lawrie will see how he feels in the morning but anticipates he should be able to play Thursday night.