PHILADELPHIA -- Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, already playing with a right elbow injury, will be out of the lineup for at least two games because of a contusion on his lower right leg, manager Dave Roberts said on Thursday.
Seager fouled a pitch off the leg just above the ankle during Wednesday night's 7-5 loss to the Phillies. X-rays were negative, but he was replaced in Thursday's starting lineup by John Forsythe, with Chase Utley starting at second base.
"More focused, he's point-tender on a specific place, which is good, where yesterday the ankle area was really bad and he was limping," said Roberts. "Tests came back negative, he's better today. We'll just keep re-evaluating him and hopefully it's a couple-day thing. Even tomorrow, we'll see. Probably think about keeping him out of the lineup a couple days."
Of course, sending Seager to the sidelines for any amount of time portends trouble for the Dodgers. The tender elbow, which could require offseason surgery to fix, kept Seager out of the starting lineup on Aug. 28, when the Dodgers had a 19-game lead. It's less than half that now.
Seager returned to the lineup on Sept. 8, but his throws lacked their pre-injury zip and accuracy. Roberts has insisted that the elbow injury didn't affect Seager's batting, but since Aug. 28, Seager has one home run, six RBIs and he's 9-for-52 (.173), dropping his overall batting average from .311 to .297 and his OPS from .895 to .854.
"Corey's got to get back to being healthy and we've got to keep him healthy through the postseason," said Roberts.
Although Seager also has a right calf bruise, Roberts said Seager is in better physical shape than he was at this time last year.
"The leg things are just part of the regular season, you take balls off your shins and calves," Roberts said. "The elbow thing, yeah, he's managing that. But last year he was more beat up than he is this year. Outside of the ankle thing last night, physically he looks better and is moving considerably better. Last year he was fatigued. Overall, he's in a better state."