BALTIMORE -- A night after Samuel Basallo slugged the first walk-off home run of his brief MLB career, the 21-year-old catcher sustained his first big league injury -- one, however, that is not expected to be serious.
Basallo exited during the fifth inning of the Orioles’ 4-3 walk-off win on Saturday against the Dodgers at Camden Yards after taking a foul ball off his right hand. He was dealing with discomfort and got replaced behind the plate by backup catcher Alex Jackson.
X-rays were negative, said interim manager Tony Mansolino, who added that Basallo will be out of the lineup for Sunday’s series finale and should return following Monday’s off-day.
With runners on the corners and no outs, Ben Rortvedt attempted to drop down a first-pitch bunt against Baltimore left-hander Trevor Rogers. The ball was fouled off and deflected into Basallo’s right hand.
After getting checked over by head athletic trainer Scott Barringer and Mansolino, Basallo attempted to throw the ball to second base, both times airmailing it into center field. At that point, the Orioles decided to remove Basallo and insert Jackson.
“In that situation right there, he got hit in the throwing hand,” Mansolino said. “[We] wanted him to throw a couple balls just to make sure that they didn’t run right there. Obviously, we didn’t feel good. We pulled him. Feel like it was the right thing to do for the kid.”
MLB Pipeline ranks Basallo as the Orioles’ No. 1 prospect and the sport’s No. 8 overall. Through 16 MLB games, he is hitting .204 (11-for-54) with two home runs and nine RBIs. The native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, hit a walk-off homer off Los Angeles left-hander Tanner Scott with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Friday, lifting Baltimore to a 2-1 win.
Basallo has been the Orioles’ starting catcher since Adley Rutschman went on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain on Aug. 21.