With the list of his disabled players growing by the day, the last thing Dodgers manager Jim Tracy needed was another player getting hurt.
But Thursday at Coors Field, things took a turn from the worst toward the bizarre.
With the score 5-5 in the seventh inning, two Rockies on base and one out, Tracy had two pitchers warmed up in the bullpen – veteran left-hander Kelly Wunsch and rookie right-hander Franquelis Osoria.
“We had the situation we wanted to have,” Tracy said. “We were completely ready.”
With the left-handed-hitting Todd Helton, who had already homered, coming to the plate, Tracy called on Wunsch, with Osoria in reserve to face righty-hitting Garrett Atkins. But Wunsch never made it out of the bullpen. While warming up, he injured his right ankle.
“I landed on my foot and I tried to pivot, and I heard a pop in my ankle,” said Wunsch, who was carted off the field and was limping in the locker room after the game. “I tried to see if it was a one-time thing, but a couple more pitches and it kept doing the same thing each time. I couldn’t keep going.”
After learning Wunsch couldn’t come in, Tracy called on Osoria, whom Helton promptly tagged for a game-winning, three-run home run. Osoria was in the game only because regular setup man Duaner Sanchez woke up with dizziness he attributed to the altitude.
“Yeah. Yeah. What can I say? The fact that I hurt my ankle right before I’m supposed to face Helton and he hits a home run, it encapsulates the season right there,” Wunsch said.
Trainers were unsure how long Wunsch would be sidelined. His injury typifies the trend that has transformed the Dodgers’ roster. Los Angeles players on the disabled list include all-star closer Eric Gagne, outfielder J.D. Drew, and most recently all-star second baseman Jeff Kent, who hobbled off with a pulled left hamstring Tuesday at Coors. Los Angeles has had nine players on the disabled list this season.
“I’ve never seen anything like it with so many important players getting hurt,” said Thursday’s starting pitcher, Derek Lowe, who couldn’t hold a 5-0 lead. “Hopefully we can finish up (the first half) strong and go into the break and get some guys healthy.
“We can only control what we can control. Injuries happen. It’s a sport. I wish they didn’t happen, but they do. We just have try to keep going and stay in this thing until August.”
