ST. PETERSBURG -- A freak play cost the Rays the services of catcher Wilson Ramos during Monday night's game.
Ramos had to leave the Rays' 5-0 loss to the Orioles after getting struck on his catching helmet with Ruben Tejada's broken bat in the fifth inning. Ramos didn't start in Tuesday night's 5-4 win because of the laceration he sustained, but he did ground out to end the eighth inning after entering as a pinch-hitter for Brad Miller.
"The barrel of the bat just hit my helmet," Ramos said. "The impact cut me. But the helmet was perfect, it never broke. I felt sore at the moment. ... If the bat hadn't cut me, I would have probably stayed in the game. There was a lot of blood in my hand. I told the trainers, 'If it's not big, I want to stay in the game.' But they said it was bleeding a lot and they had to take me out of the game."
Ramos received six staples to close the wound.
"He's fine, other than the fact he has six staples in his head," manager Kevin Cash said. "He won't play [Tuesday], or won't start, I should say. But we're confident he feels good. A little bit of a scare there. I think Wilson would have preferred to stay in the game, we just weren't able to prevent him from bleeding."
Cash said Ramos did not have to go into concussion protocol, adding: "He seems totally fine."
Jesus Sucre took over the catching duties and started on Tuesday as well.
"The trainers want to wait and see how I feel," Ramos said. "If I feel good [Tuesday], I'll do my regular [training], BP and playing catch. If I feel good after that, then I'll probably play in the game Wednesday."