WASHINGTON -- Phillies reliever Jhoan Duran was carted off the field on Friday evening at Nationals Park after he took a 94.1 mph line drive off the bat of Paul DeJong to his right foot/ankle area in the ninth and was unable to put pressure on it.
The full extent of his injury was not yet known, though X-rays on Duran were negative. He’ll be evaluated further on Saturday, according to the team.
“He ran like a shot to retrieve the ball and then once he got there, I think the adrenaline wore off and the pain set in,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “Before the cart came out, he actually said, ‘I feel better, I think I can walk over to the dugout,’ but we got all these steps up here, so we just wanted to use the cart to take him all the way around, so we didn't have to go up the steps.”
Duran was replaced by David Robertson, who yielded a double before retiring the side to seal the Phillies' 6-2 win.
“You just hope for the best," Kyle Schwarber said. "It’s unfortunate, but it’s baseball and it could’ve happened to anyone. You’re just holding your breath and waiting to see what the results are going to be. Hopefully, everything’s going to be alright and it’s nothing super serious.”
Duran, who was acquired from the Twins at the Trade Deadline, had gotten off to a stellar start to his Phillies tenure, allowing zero runs across four innings (five games) and converting all four save opportunities. On the year, he owns a sparkling 1.86 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 53 1/3 innings.
“I hope he’s OK; he couldn’t put too much weight on it,” Bryce Harper said. “It’s a tough place to get hit, so hopefully he’s good. It takes 20 steps to get up [to the clubhouse from] field level, so it was smart to put him on the cart."