ARLINGTON -- Rangers first baseman Jake Burger left Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Angels in the fifth inning due to a left wrist contusion.
Burger was hit in the left forearm/wrist area with a 95.1 mph sinker out of the hand of Ryan Johnson in the third inning. He was down and in a lot of pain for a bit, as manager Skip Schumaker and a trainer came to check on him. He initially stayed in the game to run the bases and played defense in the fourth inning, but was replaced by Nicky Lopez to begin the fifth.
“It got him good,” said Schumaker. “He's pretty swollen, pretty sore so far. It was pretty scary. Burger is one of the toughest guys I've been around. So for him not to be able to go back in, you knew it was pretty sore.”
Initial X-rays came back clean, but Burger will likely get further scans in the coming days. It is the same wrist that he had surgery on this past offseason.
“Fortunately, that wasn't a bone surgery. It was the tendon and the sheath,” Burger explained. “Obviously, it's going to be a little sore, and it's pretty swollen. … Right after that defensive inning, I talked with Lucky [head trainer Matt Lucero] and we decided to go down into the cage and see how it felt. I just felt like it was probably going to be more of a detriment to the team staying in there and trying to gut that one out.”
Burger leads the Rangers with 73 RBIs on the season, good for 12th in the American League. He is tied for second on the team with 52 runs scored, while his 21 homers also rank second behind Joc Pederson’s 22.
Burger has appeared in 123 of a possible 130 games this season.
“I want to be there every single day,” Burger said. “When I come out of the game, I kind of get frustrated with it. But I felt like with the swelling in there, I felt like my range of motion was just not there for the swing. That was probably the right call tonight. I’ll go to sleep tonight, get the swelling out and hopefully be in there tomorrow.
“It already feels better in terms of range of motion. I can deal with a little soreness. So hopefully, it's just a little soreness and the range of motion is back tomorrow.”