The
Texas Rangers
‘ strong start to the season hit a major snag on Wednesday with the disappointing news that their best player, All-Star shortstop Corey Seager, is heading to the 10-day injured list with
a right hamstring strain
.
Seager suffered the injury during Tuesday’s 8-5 win over the
Athletics
while running to first base on his inning-ending groundout in the top of the sixth. He pulled up lame, limped off the field to the dugout and exited the game early.
Testing on Wednesday revealed a low-grade hamstring strain for Seager, which is relatively good news. His injury is not considered severe and the Rangers expect him to return from the injured list shortly after the minimum 10 days.
In corresponding moves, Texas purchased the minor-league contract of shortstop Nick Ahmed and designated pitcher Walter Pennington for assignment.
Ahmed, 35, is a two-time Gold Glove-winner with 11 years of MLB experience, including 10 with the
Arizona Diamondbacks
. The veteran was released by the Rangers during spring training but recently signed a minor-league deal with the team on April 9.
Pennington, 27, made his MLB debut last year with the
Kansas City Royals
and pitched fairly well for Texas after being traded for Michael Lorenzen, going 1-0 with a 3.12 ERA in 17.1 innings over 15 appearances. However, he has been removed from the 40-man roster to make room for Ahmed.
The
Rangers’ offense has struggled
this season, so losing Seager for a while won’t help. The five-time All-Star has been one of the team’s few bright spots at the plate, slashing .286/.345/.468 (139 OPS+) with four homers and six RBI.
At 14-9 entering play on Wednesday, Texas leads the AL West by two games and will try to stay in first place while Seager is on the mend. Hopefully he can return in early May as expected and pick up where he left off.
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This article was originally published on
www.si.com/mlb/rangers
as
Texas Rangers Suffer Major Blow After Losing Superstar Corey Seager To Injured List
.
