George Springer was out of the starting lineup for Game 4 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, a day after hurting his right side during a swing.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider had said about 2 1/2 hours before game time that he prepared two lineups, one with Springer at designated hitter and one without. Schneider would not reveal the results of Springer’s MRI.
“Just kind of getting himself moving and swinging,” Schneider said. “I think swinging will be the key to see kind of — to determine if he’s in there or not. But he was the first one here, a lot of treatment, a lot of work, and George is going to do everything he can to be ready.”
Bo Bichette, his mobility limited after returning from a sprained left knee that sidelined him for seven weeks, was the DH. Bichette started at second base in Games 1 and 3, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa started at second in Game 4.
Los Angeles led the Series two games to one after winning 6-5 Monday on Freddie Freeman’s 18th-inning homer.
A four-time All-Star, Springer injured himself on a swing in the seventh. The 36-year-old designated hitter was in pain after fouling off a first-pitch sinker from Justin Wrobleski and left the game.
The veteran Blue Jays slugger fouled off the first pitch in the seventh inning against Dodgers lefty Justin Wrobleski and then held his right side. He walked toward Toronto’s dugout down the first-base line, spoke with a team trainer and then left the game.
He underwent an MRI after the game – which lasted 18 innings and was won by the Dodgers on Freddie Freeman’s walk-off home run.
The Dodgers lead the series, 2-1, and have a chance to close things out at home if they win Tuesday’s game and Wednesday’s Game 5.
Springer was hitless with two strikeouts in his first three at-bats of Game 3 at Dodger Stadium, where fans loudly booed him before each at-bat. Dodgers fans will never forget the 2017 World Series MVP’s role for the Astros, who beat Los Angeles in seven games for a championship that was later tainted by Houston’s sign-stealing activity.
Springer was 14 for 57 with four homers in the postseason for the Blue Jays, including 3 for 11 in the World Series. His three-run homer in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series propelled Toronto past the Seattle Mariners and into its first World Series since 1993.
He was struck on the right kneecap by a 95.6 mph pitch from Seattle’s Bryan Woo during the ALCS on Oct. 17, forcing him from Game 5, but he returned two days later favoring the knee.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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