Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the third inning, things were already going poorly for the Toronto Blue Jays in Monday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles. Things got worse when Bo Bichette, Toronto’s All-Star shortstop, left the game early.
With two outs in the third inning, Bichette hit what looked like it would be an extra-base hit into the right-field corner. The Orioles got a favorable bounce, though, as the ball bounced off of the wall to right fielder Anthony Santander. After rounding first, Bichette pulled up and it was quickly apparent that something was wrong.
Bichette pulled up, quickly grabbing his right knee. Baltimore shortstop Jorge Mateo fielded the throw from Santander and tagged Bichette, who was barely moving. After getting tagged out, Bichette began to limp. Trainers then came out to tend to him and eventually Bichette was removed from the game.
Bad news for the Blue Jays. All-Star Bo Bichette pulls up with an obvious injury rounding first base and is taken out of the game. pic.twitter.com/Cb1VqJafNc
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) August 1, 2023
Baseball fans were concerned with what looked like a significant injury for the two-time All-Star.
Let's not play Twitter Doctor, but hard to see any best-case scenario that does not involve at least 15 days on the IL. #NextLevel https://t.co/d0TDn0QUlE
— Nathan Sager — n8sager.bsky.social (@N8Sager) August 1, 2023
Oh no, Bo Bichette looks like he just really injured himself.
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) August 1, 2023
they're toast if he's out https://t.co/Z0EMjQZFon
— Dañiel Simpson (@DSimpson88) August 1, 2023
Bo Bichette has 15% of the Blue Jays hits this season.
That's the highest percentage of any AL-teams hits in 2023.
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) August 1, 2023
Shortly after Bichette left the game, the Blue Jays announced that he “was removed from tonight’s game with right knee discomfort.”
UPDATE: SS Bo Bichette was removed from tonight's game with right knee discomfort.
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 1, 2023
Bichette has been one of the league’s best hitters. He has 17 home runs on the year and, including his two hits in Monday’s game, is slashing .321/.352/.494.
Coming into Monday’s game, the Blue Jays were in third place in the American League East, 5.5 games behind the first-place Orioles. Toronto also held the American League’s No. 2 Wild Card spot, tied with the Astros. But four other teams are within 4.5 games of Toronto and Houston. So, if Bichette misses significant time, that could be a major blow to the Blue Jays’ postseason hopes.
[Toronto Blue Jays, Photo Credit: SportsNet]
