Atlanta Braves Andrelton Simmons And Jason Heyward Leave Game
By Jeff Schafer
Fredi Gonzalez continued to ask Atlanta Braves shortstop, Andrelton Simmons, early in the game if he was alright…his answer back to Fredi, “Yes”. Simmons wanted to stay in the game and tough it out but his ankle gave out on him during a swing in the 3rd inning.
Andrelton has been battling through different injuries all 2014 season and has again been removed from a game. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Fredi Gonzalez pulled the plug on Simmons’ night.
Simmons fell down in the batters box on the swing as he flew out to center to end the 3rd. Stay tuned. #Braves
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) September 18, 2014
Blake Treinen was on the mound for Washington on Wednesday night and was cooking early. Simmons took a swing and popped it up but immediately following his swing, he went to one knee and looked in pain. The injury happened earlier in the game, or he’s been dealing with the ankle injury for a while, possibly earlier in the game when running to second base.
Simmons out, left between innings. Looked like he might've aggravated ankle earlier decelerating into 2nd on Freeman hit. No word yet
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) September 17, 2014
Simmons is currently having a down year for Atlanta with a slash line of .244/.287/.335. Though Andrelton may be having an off year at the plate, his defense has still been top notch.
“His ankle, during his last at-bat he fell,” Fredi Gonzalez said after the game. “He had trouble running to first base on his first at-bat but then made a great play on a slow rolling. It’s the same ankle that he sprained it but it’s not a sprained ankle it’s more of a achilles thing up high that bites him every once and a while.”
Then Braves fans received more bad news in the bottom of the 8th inning when the announcer reported Joey Terdoslavich was batting for Jason Heyward. Heyward was 0-2 with a run scored in Wednesday game before leaving. JHey was hit by a pitch right in the thumb but stayed in the game until the 8th inning.
Early reports for Mark Bowman are that Heyward’s thumb swelled up over the later part of the game. We’ll keep you updated as we know.
“He got hit in the thumb,” Fredi Gonzalez said. “He’s having x-rays right now so we don’t have anything. We don’t think it’s broken but it kept stiffing up on him. He couldn’t even throw the ball or grip it and that’s why he came out in that last inning. He definitely couldn’t swing a bat.”
X-rays on Heyward's left thumb were negative. But he knows that thumb ailments can prove to be a lingering problem. #Braves
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) September 18, 2014