Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Homer Bailey and Oakland Athletics shortstop Jed Lowrie will be heading to the disabled list. Atlanta Braves outfielder Justin Upton left yesterday's game against the Dodgers with an injury, while other players around the league received updates on their ailments.
On Wednesday the Colorado Rockies announced that shortstop Troy Tulowitzki will undergo hip surgery and miss the remainder of the season. They followed up that bad news with more, and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez was placed in the disabled list because of a sprained right ankle and tendinitis in his left knee. The team announced on Thursday that Gonzalez will also undergo season-ending surgery on his left patella tendon. The Rockies are tied for the worst record in baseball with the Texas Rangers.
The rest of the MLB teams with recent injury issues are playoff contenders. The Reds (60-61) have an outside chance of making the playoffs as they sit four games back of the final NL wild card spot, but their chances were hurt on Thursday when the team announced Homer Bailey would be placed on the DL with a strained right elbow after injuring himself in an at-bat on August 7. He threw a light bullpen session after suffering the injury, but he didn't feel any better.
Oakland A's shortstop Jed Lowrie has a hairline fracture in his right index finger and was hoping to avoid the DL and play through the injury - which he has for the past 10 days - but the team determined it was affecting his performance and he'll be out of action for at least two weeks. As he rests his finger, the A's will call up Andy Parrino from Triple-A to take his place on the roster. Oakland has the best record in baseball and they sit atop the AL West.
The Atlanta Braves are three games back of the second wild card spot and trail the Washington Nationals six games in the NL East. They received bad news yesterday when outfielder Justin Upton left the game in the 8th inning against the Dodgers because of a left hamstring strain, which could keep him out of action depending on his evaluation today. The Braves have lost 12 of their last 15 games and losing arguably their best player (Upton is batting .281 with 21 home runs and 72 RBIs) - whether it's day-to-day or a stint on the 15-day DL - will be bad news for Atlanta.
But there is some good news. St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina caught his first bullpen session on Thursday since undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb 34 days earlier. According to manager Mike Matheny, Molina is ahead of schedule in his recovery process and the medical staff has cleared the All-Star catcher to participate in baseball activities on a daily basis. Molina has already been out for five weeks and could come back sooner than the estimated 8-12 weeks the doctors said recovery from the surgery would take.
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