BALTIMORE -- Steven Souza Jr. couldn't keep a home run in the park Monday night. The slugging outfielder's bruised elbow didn't keep him out of the Rays' lineup the following day.
Souza Jr., who was named American League Player of the Week hours before the injury, batted leadoff in Tuesday's 2-0 win over the Orioles.
He suffered the injury trying to snare a drive by Baltimore's Hyun Soo Kim in the series opening 6-3 loss. His right elbow smacked against a bar on the wall, but subsequent X-rays were negative.
"When I woke up and it wasn't extremely unbearable, I texted [Rays manager Kevin] Cash and said I was ready to go," Souza Jr. said.
That's good news for Tampa Bay, seeing as Souza Jr. leads the Rays with 17 RBIs while batting .333 with four home runs in 21 games. More good news came late Monday when exams revealed he suffered only a bone bruise.
"I'm OK. [If you] bang your elbow on a bar it's not going to feel great the next day," Souza Jr. said. He added, "I knew it wasn't something very significant, especially when we got the X-rays yesterday and they were negative … Just more of a pain tolerance."
As for whether he truly thinks he was close to catching the home run blast, the optimistic Souza Jr. said, "Yeah, I think so. If you look at how my glove got, it was pretty close. … Don't sleep on my Spiderman arms."
His manager had a different opinion on the potential catch.
"If he was standing on the wall, yeah, maybe," Cash cracked.
• Right-hander Jake Odorizzi (hamstring) will throw Wednesday instead of Tuesday because of the wet conditions at Camden Yards, Cash said. "We could have done it in the cage, but we're pretty confident we are going to get good weather tomorrow."
• Outfielder Colby Rasmus (groin) was given the day off Tuesday for his rehab assignment at Double-A Montgomery. He is expected to play Wednesday and Thursday. "Then, we'll revisit it and see how he feels," Cash said. "All the reports say all is going well."