CHICAGO -- Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras, fresh off being added to the All-Star team and accepting an invitation to the Home Run Derby, was forced out of Wednesday night’s 5-0 victory over the White Sox with a left foot contusion suffered after he fouled a ball hard off the top of his left foot in the top of the third inning.
Though Contreras, known for his toughness, initially stayed in the game, he was hobbling at first base while trying to play defense and exited one batter into the bottom of the third.
“So when I'm in pain, that's the only way I'm coming off the field,” Contreras said. “And it's something that I thought we should take care of right away and not extend it.”
Boston’s invaluable slugger and cleanup man didn’t sound worried about the injury after the game.
“Not really,” Contreras said. “I think it's day to day. I'm not concerned about anything worse than just a bruise. We’re going day to day. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow when I wake up.”
Contreras didn’t undergo X-rays.
“No. I think because of how well he was moving around when he went back inside, we didn't do that for now,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “We'll see how he feels [Thursday].”
In one fell swoop, the Red Sox lost the entire right side of their starting infield in that third inning. Just one pitch after Contreras was shaken up, second baseman Anthony Seigler came roaring home to score on a wild pitch but collided with White Sox catcher Kyle Teel and part of his equipment.
Seigler slid in head first and was down for a bit before gathering himself to leave the field. He was replaced by Andrew Monasterio at second base to start the bottom of the third. Romy Gonzalez replaced Contreras at first.
Seigler was diagnosed with a right trap contusion and was doing much better by the end of the night.
“He kind of got hung up and slammed into his neck,” Tracy said. “He said it almost felt like a stinger in football, so both of them are doing better now.”
The Red Sox, who have now equaled their season-high winning streak of five games while ripping off 10 wins in their last 12 games, can ill afford to lose Contreras for an extended stretch. He has been the club’s most productive hitter all season.
However, Contreras might be getting a few days off soon anyway, as MLB has yet to rule on the appeal of the seven-game suspension he received last week for throwing his helmet in the direction of Nationals righty Cade Cavalli during a bench-clearing fracas.
Cavalli’s suspension was reduced from seven games to five.
With Red Sox outfielder Nate Eaton serving the final game of his two-game suspension from that same melee, Connor Wong was the only player left on the Boston bench after the two infielders had to come out of the game.
Fortunately for Boston, it was an uneventful rest of the game, as the club rode five early runs and a brilliant performance by lefty Jake Bennett to victory.
Contreras said he fouled the ball off the top, inside portion of his foot. How was he able to initially stay in the game and finish his at-bat?
“So I hit a bone in my foot, and it went numb for a little bit, and then the feeling came back,” Contreras said. “I finished my at-bat, and you saw the way I ran from home to first base. It was painful. I took my time to get back on the field just to like give it some extra seconds to feel better. But on the first ground ball, the pain was worse.”