The Kansas City Royals have already lost enough pitchers to injury this season, so even the ankle turn experienced by Luke Hochevar during last night's game against the Toronto Blue Jays is likely to cause more alarm than normal. The good news is that Hochevar says he doesn't believe he'd miss any real time after limping trying to cover first base in the fifth inning.
"If I had another start to make before the All-Star break, I wouldn't see myself missing it," Hochevar said. "It's stiff and it's tender, and it bothers me to push off the rubber, but I think it'll be fine."
"It's not bad," Hochevar continued. "When I was covering first, I thought Hosmer caught the ball, so I kind of let up a little bit. Then I saw it took a funky hop and skipped out of his glove, so then I tried to put on the afterburners and try to get there. When I caught it, I just lunged for the bag and hit the bag on the inside and rolled it in."
Even his manager believed he would ultimately be okay, which is a good sign for Royals fans. The team has already lost Danny Duffy, Felipe Paulino, Blake Wood and Joakim Soria all needed Tommy John surgery this season, an astounding number of devastating injuries for one staff. And it's not as if the Royals were known for their starting pitching depth in the first place.
"He's not slated to start until after the All-Star break. We've got plenty of time, it's not serious," Yost said. "[But] it was hurting him a little bit and I'm not going to take a chance if your ankle's hurting, because that affects your shoulder, it affects your elbow and it's not anything that I want to play with."
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