Padres’ Manny Machado leaves in the 4th inning vs. Angels with right hip flexor strain
By JOE REEDY
AP Sports Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado left Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels with a leg injury after running out a ground ball during the fourth inning.
The Padres announced after their 3-2 loss that Machado has a right hip flexor strain.
Manager Mike Shildt termed it as a mild- or low-grade strain and that Machado’s status remains day-to-day. The Padres open a four-game series at home against Arizona on Thursday night.
“It’s clearly something and we’ll see about tomorrow,” Shildt said. “But it seems like it’s mild in substance.”
Machado grimaced after reaching first base and appeared to injure his upper right leg as he ran out an attempted double play. He was looked at by a trainer before walking gingerly back to the first-base dugout.
Shildt said Machado wanted to remain in the game to see if the injury was severe, but that was too big a risk to take.
“Let’s just err on the side of caution,” Shildt said. “You know he’s got to go from first to third right there. If he aggravates it, I think we shoot ourselves in the foot. Let’s just get this behind us and get it taken care of.”
A stint on the injured list and missing an extended amount of time would be bad for both Machado and the Padres.
Machado has a .249 batting average, but was hitting at a .344 clip in his last 17 games entering Wednesday. He also had a hit in 12 of his last 14 contests.
Wednesday night’s loss was the Padres’ fourth straight and put them back under .500 at 32-33.
“It’s as bad as you can put it, especially with my boy getting hot right now,” said right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., who tied a career high with four hits in Wednesday night’s loss.
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