Left fielder Kyle Schwarber was carted off the Chase field during Thursday night’s game against the Diamondbacks after an ugly collision with center fielder Dexter Fowler in the second inning.
Jean Segura of the Arizona Diamondbacks hit a line drive into left-center during the second inning. Schwarber and Fowler made contact in an attempt to both game the ball. Schwarber’s feet were taken out from under him, throwing him to the ground. After the collision, Schwarber remained on the ground for several minutes until trainers could assist him to his feet, reports ESPN .
“The ball was literally in no-man’s-land. It was in between us. We both thought that person wasn’t going to get the ball. You only call it if you think you can get it. We both went at it. I was pretty close,” Schwarber told reports.
Schwarber also told reporters that his ankle and knee felt tight and sore. The initial x-rays on the field showed only a sprain, but he’s scheduled to have an MRI Friday afternoon to show the extent of his injury.
Mad Dog weighs in on @kschwarb12 ‘s injury and catches up with @WhiteSox skipper Robin Ventura on #HighHeat at 12pE. pic.twitter.com/XBpji0M53t
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) April 8, 2016
“We were playing hard. I have no regrets about playing hard and getting hurt,” he said as he stood on crutches at his locker after the game. “I’m not going to be down in spirits. I’m going to just wait till tomorrow and see what happens.”
“Can’t get mad about playing hard and getting hurt,” he said. “Rather play hard and get hurt than play not hard and not get hurt.”
With Schwarber out, it increases the season role of Jorge Soler, who shared time in left field with Schwarber. Infielder Tommy La Stella and Kris Bryant could see more play time as well, but more importantly are Schwarber’s hitting abilities. Schwarber broke the Cubs’ postseason home run record after his half-season debut last year, and the team is hoping that his knee isn’t injured.
“I hope it’s not as bad as it looked. I’m optimistic,” said first baseman Anthony Rizzo.
The Cubs came back to win against the Diamondbacks 14-6.
According to Fox Sports , cubs pitcher Lackey, who signed a two-year, $32 million contract with the Cubs, threw three scoreless innings after Arizona took a 6-4 lead in the third.
“I kept giving the lead back the first couple of innings, so it wasn’t ideal,” he said, “but then finally started mixing some things up and started to get a groove later on in the game. You definitely know with our offense you don’t have to be perfect, but I’d like to be better than that.”
The Chicago Sun Times reports that it’s not clear who will take Schwarber’s place behind the plate but that Maddon had a brief discussion with the assistant general manager and that all possibilities are hopeful.
“It had bad things written all over it,” Maddon said. “The guy hits the ball in the one spot that we can’t cover…. I’d just rather see the ball go over the fence right there. We’d have been fine.”
“We played really well again tonight,” Chicago manager Joe Maddon said. “We worked great at-bats. You look at the numbers and the hits but it’s because the at-bats are being worked so well. We’re not chasing out of the zone. We’re making pitchers come over the plate, up and down the lineup and that’s the beauty of the whole group right now.”
[Photo by Paul Beaty/AP Images]