NewzATLANTA (AP) — One day after hitting two homers, Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Nolan Arenado was fretting about a pain he's never felt.Arenado pulled himself out of a 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the fourth inning Sunday with what was described as left trunk discomfort.He only hopes it's not too serious, especially when the Diamondbacks are vying for a playoff spot. They came into the day in a three-way tie with San Diego and Philadelphia for the final two NL wild-card spots.“I am worried,” Arenado said. “I’ve never had that before, so I don't know what it is.”Arenado said he initially felt the pain while bending over in the batter's box and it felt worse after he swung.
He slowed up noticeably while running to first and quickly decided to leave the game.“I felt a little bit of pain in my intercostal area,” he said in the clubhouse afterward, pointing toward his left rib cage. I haven't really felt that before, so I had to get get taken out of the game.”With the team heading to Boston for the start of a three-game series on Monday, Arenado will have as MRI to determine the extent of the injury.“It doesn't feel great,” he said. "I felt it before the at-bat, but it didn’t feel like pain or anything.
Then, when I swung, I was like ‘ahh.’ It wasn’t getting drastically worse, but it doesn’t feel right. So I thought I would let them know.”That raised the concern of manager Torey Lovullo.“The last thing he wants to do is take himself out of the game,” Lovullo said. He wants to play every inning of every game.
When I got that news, it wasn't great.”While expressing cautious optimism that the injury isn't serious, Lovullo was taken aback when told by the media that Arenado described it as an intercostal issue, referring to the muscles between the rib cage.“That's news to me,” the skipper said. “If he's concerned, then that will ramp up my concern. We care about each other in this clubhouse.”The 35-year-old Arenado, an eight-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner, has made a big impact in his first season with the Diamondbacks.
He is hitting .241 with 20 homers and 62 RBIs after being acquired in a salary-dump trade with St. Louis during the offseason.“He's having a tremendous year," Lovullo said. "I thought about giving him the day off, but he hit two home runs yeste…
ATLANTA (AP) — Matt Olson hit a three-run homer to back six strong innings from Bryce Elder, leading the Atlanta Braves past the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep. After Ildemaro Vargas homered in the seventh off Didier Fuentes (5-1) to tie the game at 2, Olson hit a 3-0 pitch from Brandyn Garcia over the center-field wall with two outs and a pair of runners aboard in the bottom half. The 437-foot shot was Olson’s 36th homer of the season.
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