Jose Bautista leaves game with apparent leg injury after bunting
Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays was forced to leave this afternoon’s game against the Cincinnati Reds after he hustled out a bunt in the third inning. Bautista appeared to hurt his left leg on the play and was pulled two batters later after Colby Rasmus singled home Munenori Kawasaki and Melky Cabrera with Bautista pulling up to second. Jose Reyes entered the game for Bautista as a pinch runner.
Why was Bautista bunting in the first place? I’m not exactly sure but I have my doubts the coaching staff called for the play. It looked like Bautista saw the third baseman playing back and thought he could get on, or at least move both runners up, with a bunt down the third base line. The play was ruled a sacrifice with an error going to Reds’ starting pitcher Johnny Cueto as Bautista reached on a bang-bang play that was reviewed and upheld.
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However as it ends up Bautista ended up sacrificing a lot more than just the potential out. It’s not yet known if he will miss any time but with Adam Lind still nursing a foot injury the Blue Jays bench has become scary short. They have no back-up outfielders on the active roster and Steven Tolleson was forced to take over in right field for Bautista. Kawasaki can also play outfield but is probably better suited for left than right.
Hopefully Bautista won’t miss any time but the Jays might need to call-up another outfielder even if he’s only out for a game or two. Kevin Pillar is eligible to be called up at any time while the presence of Anthony Gose would require someone to hit the DL (h/t Mike Wilner, The FAN 590).
We will update this story once more is known about Bautista’s injury.
Update #1
From Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com:
Update #2
According to Mike Wilner of Sportsnet The FAN 590, Bautista has a mild hamstring strain and will hopefully only be out for a couple of days.