SAN FRANCISCO – Jake Bauers was out of the lineup on Tuesday night, July 28 as the Milwaukee Brewers again took on the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.
And that was overall good news, considering what could have been after he was forced from Monday night’s 3-0 loss with an injury to his right big toe.
“I fouled a ball off it last night,” Bauers explained. “Cold weather, wasn’t getting any better, couldn’t really move. Came out of the game, got an X-ray. It showed a fracture line. At the time they weren’t sure if it was old or new. Had an MRI and CT scan this morning and the doctors said it was probably old and already there.
“Right now it’s just swelling and a little bit of pain. Going to be fine.”
Bauers, who’s in the midst of a career season with a .265 average, team-leading 18 home runs and 60 runs batted in with an OPS of .856, said the news allowed him to take a sigh of relief.
“For sure,” he said. “I don’t think it was going to be an IL either way, even if it was new. It was just going to be pain management and get the swelling down as much as possible. The fact that it’s old I think it’s probably the better of the two options.”
Bauers, who said he’s never broken a bone previously, was asked if he could remember when he might have hit the previous ball that caused the fracture to his toe.
“I’ve probably had about 150 of them,” he quipped.
Manager Pat Murphy said he wasn’t surprised by Bauers wanting to gut it out through the pain. Considering his versatility in being able to swing between first base, left field and right field the 30-year-old has developed into one of Milwaukee’s more indisipensible players this season.
“If you’re in the major leagues, you want to play,” said Murphy. “And there’s not many guys in this situation, especially with the year that he’s having, who’s not going to want to play through that. They’re going to want to manage the pain any way they can.
“I think he’ll get through it. But it won’t be easy.”
In the meantime, Bauers said he was going to huddle with the team’s medical staff to see if they can come up with something to be able to protect or brace his toe.
“It’s going to be fine,” he said. “Just need to get the swelling down and it’s a pain tolerance thing from there.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jake Bauers will be playing in pain after fouling a ball off his toe
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
