Ben Casparius became the latest member of the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen to suffer an injury, which occurred on Tuesday night against the Minnesota Twins.
Casparius exited the game after a rough appearance where he allowed one hit and walked three batters without recording an out. He was seen shaking out his right leg, and the Dodgers announced Casparius exited due to a right leg cramp.
Casparius said he’s dealt with cramps before in his career, but this one felt more severe than others and affected more of his overall leg. He also attempted to pitch through it before he was unable to continue.
“I would say the last couple pitches of warm ups, I kind of felt my foot give a little bit, like a Charley horse feeling, clenched up,” Casparius said after the Dodgers’ loss. “And then I’d say pretty early on in the outing. I’m hoping unbearable cramps, but we’re going to see I guess.”
It does appear Casparius avoided a more serious injury as he underwent an MRI, which provided encouraging news.
“Things came back negative,” he said on Wednesday morning. “So for me, I think it was kind of the foot discomfort that bled into the calf a little bit and up toward the top of my knee. I’m kind of fortunate for that, but I’m still in a little bit of pain.”
The 26-year-old added he does not believe he’ll need a stint on the injured list, which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts corroborated.
“I think I’m just going to need a couple days to get back on track,” Casparius said. “That’s kind of tentative right now, so we’ll kind of going forward what we’re going to do. I don’t know the full plan yet.”
Jack Little was in the Dodgers clubhouse on the taxi squad in the event they had to make a roster move with Casparius.
Ben Casparius made cramp worse
As Casparius attempted to pitch through the cramp, he potentially made things worse for himself. But given the state of the Dodgers bullpen and where the team was at, he wanted to get through the inning and help the club out.
“I think the soreness is probably from pushing through the cramp a little bit more than I would’ve wanted to,” Casparius acknowledged. “Kind of a tough spot. I think I got to a point where I was worried about it being irreversible for the season or something that might sideline me for the rest of the year.
“But I was bummed to put the team in that spot. Just a situation where I didn’t necessarily know what to do. Maybe it could’ve been avoided if I said something earlier.”
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