The Tampa Bay Rays may be receiving some unfortunate news soon—star third baseman Evan Longoria was pulled from Friday’s home game against the Detroit Tigers.
UPDATE: Friday, June 28, at 10:48 p.m. ET by Ian Hanford
Tampa Bay Times reporter Joe Smith provided an update on Longoria:
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*Original Text*
Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times reported the news on Twitter:
The loss of Longoria for an extended period of time would be a big blow for the Rays. The three-time All-Star has been the heart of Tampa Bay’s lineup this season. He leads the team in home runs (17), RBI (47), on-base percentage (.368) and hits (90).
According to Smith, Longoria was replaced at third base by Kelly Johnson.
In 219 at-bats this season, the 31-year-old is hitting just .237 with 11 home runs and 39 RBI. He’s a career .254 hitter.
Longoria has already been dealing with injury throughout this season. According to a report from the Associated Press, Longoria has been forced out of third base and into the role of designated hitter with a sore foot in June.
Should Longoria‘s injury turn out to be a serious one, it won’t be the first time that the Rays’ season was impacted by the third baseman’s health. He only logged 74 games for the club last season due to a hamstring injury, as Tampa finished 90-72, barely missing out on the playoffs.
According to Baseball-Reference.com, the Rays won 64 percent of the games that Longoria played in last season, going just 43-45 in the games that he missed.
The Rays are currently 5-5 in their last 10 games and sit six games out of first place in the American League East with a record of 41-38.
Be sure to return to this page, as we will bring you the latest information on Longoria’s status as it becomes available.
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