Amid an injury plagued season, the Toronto Blue Jays received a pair of significant scares on Sunday.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Dylan Cease each exited the Blue Jays’ game against the Pittsburgh Pirates with injuries.
Guerrero was hit on the inside of his right elbow by a 92.1 m.p.h. sinker by Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller and immediately removed himself from the game, walking past manager John Schneider and team trainers to the clubhouse.
The Blue Jays later announced that X-Rays came back negative for a fracture and that Guerrero left the game with a right elbow contusion. Meanwhile, the team announced Cease was removed with mild left hamstring discomfort.
Guerrero had walked in both of his previous at-bats in the game, and was thrown only two pitches in the zone, with most others missing badly.
The 27-year-old slugger came around from second to score the Blue Jays’ only run on an Ernie Clement single in the fourth.
Guerrero has struggled this season, hitting only three home runs and posting a .758 OPS that’s well below his career mark of .856. He reached base for a fourth consecutive game on Sunday, but has still lacked his trademark extra-base power, recording four singles and five walks over that span.
Alejandro Kirk (thumb fracture), Addison Barger (elbow inflammation) and Nathan Lukes (hamstring discomfort), are all position players currently on the IL with injuries sustained this season.
Cease first exhibited discomfort and gestured to the dugout in the fifth after throwing a knuckle curve to Spencer Horwitz.
The hard-throwing righty received a mound visit from Schneider and team trainers but remained in the game after appearing to shake out his legs while throwing a few warmup pitches.
He remained in the game for one more batter, inducing a line out from Horwitz, but was ultimately removed from the game after 4.2 innings.
Cease allowed two earned runs — on a pair of solo homers from Horwitz and ONeal Cruz — and struck out eight in a 4-1 loss to the Pirates.
The Blue Jays also have a number of starting pitchers on the injured list.
Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer are both currently working their way back from right elbow inflammation and right forearm tendinitis and left ankle inflammation, respectively. Cody Ponce is likely to miss the season with after undergoing ACL surgery and Jose Berrios is set for a 12-18 month recovery time from Tommy John surgery.