STAR DOWN
Mookie Betts left writhing in pain with broken hand as Los Angeles Dodgers star is smacked by 98mph fastball
Betts is the second major injury the Dodgers sustained in two days
LOS Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts is set to miss some time after sustaining a fractured hand.
Betts was hit by a pitch on Sunday that left him writhing in pain against the Kansas City Royals.
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Betts was immediately placed on the injured list following the game and will be out for "some time" with the injury.
He will not need surgery for the fractured hand and is expected to return at some point this season.
Betts shared disappointment with the injury, but is trying to see the bright side of it.
"I'll be watching the boys and cheering them on," Betts said.
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"Other than that, just kind of rest, maybe use it as a mental break and be ready to go whenever it heals up."
Betts was having a rough 0-3 game when he went down with the injury, but he was in the midst of a spectacular season.
The Dodgers shortstop was hitting .304 with 10 home runs, 40 RBI, and 50 runs scored.
He had an impressive .892 OPS and accounted for 3.8 wins above replacement.
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Losing Betts leaves a missive hole in the Dodgers lineup, but superstar Shohei Ohtani said that the rest of the team will step up to keep their momentum.
"He's obviously a very important part of the team," Ohtani said through an interpreter.
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"And if he's out for some time, then it's really up to the rest of the team to pick him up so that we can continue."
Betts' injury is another hit in a string of bad luck the Dodgers have been facing.
The same day as Betts' injury, rookie Japanese phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto was placed on the injured list as well.
Yamamoto was removed from his start on Saturday with "forearm tightness," and it was later revealed that he has a strained rotator cuff injury.
He was expected to start on Thursday but was pushed back a few days to Saturday.
He felt some tightness during his bullpen session, but the issue elevated during the game.
"I did have tightness and I was aware of it [during the bullpen session], but it wasn't serious at that point," Yamamoto said through an interpreter.
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"As I was pitching, it started growing. I let coaches know, and we decided to pull me."
He is also expected to return this season, but manager Dave Roberts gave the same vague answer with Yamamoto's injury as he did with Betts' injury. The star will miss "some time."
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