Valaika undergoes surgery on broken wrist

LOS ANGELES -- Marlins infielder Chris Valaika, who fractured his left wrist on Tuesday at San Diego, underwent successful surgery on Friday at the University of Miami Hospital.

Valaika sustained a break to the tip of his radius bone in the eighth inning.

A Santa Monica native, Valaika entered the Marlins' road trip eager to travel to Los Angeles to see family and friends.

Instead, on Friday the 27-year-old was back in Miami, where it was determined he needed surgery. Dr. Patrick Owens performed the procedure, inserting two pins in his wrist.

There is a chance Valaika could be done for the season. He will need four to six weeks to recover from the surgery, and about the same amount of time to build back up.

"He's going to be down a while," manager Mike Redmond said. "He left the other day to get checked out, and it showed that he needed surgery."

Valaika, who started at second base on Tuesday, sustained the injury while covering second on Yonder Alonso's stolen base. His glove hand was pinned and bent backwards after grazing with Alonso.