Padres first baseman Luis Arraez was placed on the 7-day injured list and is in concussion protocol following a scary collision with Houston's Mauricio Dub¨®n Sunday night that hospitalized Arraez. Infielder Mason McCoy was recalled from Triple-A El Paso ahead of Monday night's opener with the Tigers in Detroit, the Padres announced.
¡°Obviously, very scary," Padres manager Mike Shildt said after Sunday's game. "We think he¡¯s for the most part out of the woods. Time will tell, but the initial testing is very favorable. No fractures of any sort. A little bit of a laceration on his jawline, so we¡¯re worried about his jaw, clearly his cervical region.
¡°We¡¯ve been burned on testing before, so we¡¯ll be cautiously optimistic. He did have a period [on the field] of where he wasn¡¯t aware of where he was, so that¡¯s clearly concerning, but everything¡¯s coming back to him now, and his initial testing from a concussion standpoint is favorable. All things considered, it¡¯s a blessing.¡±
Arraez, who at age 28 can claim a batting title for each of the past three seasons, entered Sunday hitting .287 for the MLB-best Padres and was batting .338 over his last 17 games after starting the season 1-for-18. Any prolonged absence would be another blow to a team already missing the bats of Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, Brandon Lockridge and Jason Heyward, who are all on the injured list.
After Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the game with a walk against Astros left-hander Framber Valdez, Arraez laid down a sacrifice bunt attempt that was fielded on the right side of the infield by Astros first baseman Christian Walker. Dub¨®n was racing to first to take Walker¡¯s throw and, while recording the putout, appeared to hit Arraez¡¯s chin with his elbow.
With Shildt looking on, Arraez lay on the field in a chilling scene while being attended to by the medical staff as the game was delayed for 11 minutes. His head and neck were secured by a brace before he was carted off. Arraez did give a thumbs-up to the crowd as he was taken off the field through a gate in the right-field corner.
¡°It¡¯s a sad moment, especially getting close with him and seeing him on the ground like that," Tatis said. "Definitely get scared, and you almost go into tears. But just sat down next to him and started praying for him right away.¡±
Dub¨®n sensed the possible collision but said he had no room to maneuver as he barreled toward first base.
¡°I tried to stay on the bag, and it was full speed,¡± Dub¨®n said. ¡°I just braced myself and closed my eyes. I couldn¡¯t move anywhere, anything. So that¡¯s why I just try to take it.
¡°It was scary, just watching him not move. Especially when people know the type of player I am. I¡¯m not a dirty player or anything, so it sucks. There¡¯s nothing I could have done. I braced myself and, you know, thought I was gonna get the worst out of it.¡±
McCoy, 30, played 19 games with the Padres last season, hitting .204 with two doubles.