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Pirates Notebook: Tabata makes early departure with leg injury
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Pirates manager Clint Hurdle helps injured player Jose Tabata onto a stretcher.
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Jose Tabata left Sunday's 4-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox because of a left quadriceps injury after running out a bunt single in the first inning.
He hit the bag with his left leg, then pulled up and fell to the ground, causing manager Clint Hurdle and the training staff to examine him for several minutes. He was placed on a stretcher and carted off the field.
Tabata limped out of the clubhouse after the game. Hurdle said he didn't know Tabata's condition, and the team said he would be evaluated today.
The Pirates could call up Class AAA Indianapolis outfielder Alex Presley as early as today should Tabata need to go on the disabled list. Indications were that the team planned to recall Presley anyway to serve as the designated hitter in Toronto, where the Pirates face the Blue Jays for a three-game series.
"He continues to get better, he continues to understand what he can do as a hitter, what his strengths are in the batter's box, on the bases, defensively," general manager Neal Huntington said of Presley prior to Sunday's game.
Presley was pulled from Indianapolis' lineup Sunday afternoon. He was hitting .336 with a .500 slugging percentage and had 8 home runs and 36 RBIs.
"He obviously had a tremendous first half of the year down there in triple-A and has forced his way up here, and we'll see where we go, big picture," Huntington said. "He's certainly earned every opportunity he's going to get up here."
If Tabata goes on the disabled list, the Pirates could choose to recall Josh Harrison, because the 10-day waiting period for an optioned player to return does not apply if a team places a player on the major league disable league. That would allow the Pirates to recall Harrison and Presley and send down Pedro Ciriaco as the corresponding move for Presley.
If Tabata does not go on the DL, the team could still send Ciriaco down and bring up Presley.
Huntington said Pedro Alvarez, who was scheduled to resume baseball activities Friday, had some soreness in his neck from sleeping on it wrong. He said he expected Alvarez, who is on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right quadriceps and is rehabbing in Bradenton, Fla., to return in two or three days.
Ross Ohlendorf will skip a turn throwing simulated games, Huntington said.
"We ideally want to get him almost 60, 65, maybe even 70, 75 pitches before we start the clock in a rehab [assignment] in case we have a setback somewhere along the way. We're being ultra-conservative with Ross, but everything's going along fine."
Ohlendorf is on the 60-day disabled list because of a posterior strain in his right shoulder. He had been throwing simulated games in Bradenton.
Indianapolis catcher Jason Jaramillo, who is on the minor league disabled list because of an elbow injury, is participating in a throwing program, Huntington said. He will need some at-bats to get his timing back once he is healthy because he hasn't played since May 27.
Jaramillo's injury, combined with injuries to Ryan Doumit and Chris Snyder, have caused the Pirates to start seven catchers this season, recent call-up Eric Fryer being the latest.
The previous time the Pirates used seven catchers was 1953: Mike Sandlock, Toby Atwell, Vic Janowicz, Joe Garagiola, Nick Koback, Ed Fitz Gerald, Pete Naton and Jack Shepard.
First Published June 27, 2011 12:00 am
