Escobar has MRI on knee, no structural damage revealed

BOSTON -- Yunel Escobar had an MRI on his injured left knee Thursday and the news was good. He has a bruise, but no structural damage.

The Rays shortstop flew home to the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday after injuring his left knee during the third inning of Tuesday's 6-2 win against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

"Bruise in the knee," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Not unlike what happened to Desmond [Jennings]. So he's out for the rest of the season. He went back there. They did the MRI. Nothing was horrible. But bad enough where he cannot play anymore."

Escobar will finish the season on a five-game hitting streak and his final numbers will include a .258 batting average with seven home runs and 39 RBIs.

Maddon felt like Escobar came on strong toward the end of the season.

"I thought his last month was pretty good," said Maddon, noting that Escobar played better after the rumor that he was getting traded to Oakland was explained to him as just a rumor. "After everything settled down with the Oakland-Gate, with all that stuff going on. That was a tough moment, because he really didn't understand all of that. Once we were able to explain everything to him, he started slowly getting better. Then I thought he played really well after that. Offense and defense."