SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -Phillies right-hander Freddy Garcia was injured Sunday night when he ran into an equipment cart that had stopped along the warning track in San Francisco’s ballpark.
Garcia bruised and scraped his left shin in the collision, raising question as to whether he will be able to make his scheduled start Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Arizona. Garcia, who was running to try to catch a fly ball in center field, toppled onto the cart used by the grounds crew and was clearly in pain. He was quickly carted off the field on the vehicle.
“See how I feel tomorrow,” Garcia said after his team’s 8-5 win over the Giants.
“Right now I feel better. I don’t expect that to happen in a ballpark. I was full speed and I have caught the ball. That’s the best thing. It hurt right away. I didn’t say anything. I was in pain.”
Jorge Costa, the Giants’ senior vice president of ballpark operations, said the club would look into its procedure in regards to the cart being on the field during batting practice.
“It’s never been an issue. He yelled and couldn’t stop,” Costa said. “For eight seasons, we’ve been going from the Phillies’ bullpen to left. We’re sorry it happened.”
Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said the team might know more late Sunday but perhaps not until Monday.
“I’m not upset. I’m just kind of curious why it was out there during our batting practice,” Gillick said in the clubhouse before the game. “He has a contusion on his leg. They have him iced down. There’s no fracture of any kind. We’ll all have to wait. This is the kind of thing that could get sore and stiffen up overnight, so we have to keep tabs on that,” Gillick said.
If Garcia is not able to go, Gillick said it would be up to manager Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee to select a starter.
Garcia, who turns 31 next month, is 1-2 with a 6.05 ERA in four starts this year, his first with the Phillies after playing his first eight big league seasons in the American League with the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox.
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