DETROIT – Sitting – not standing – in front of his locker after Wednesday’s doubleheader, Jesse Chavez, with a swollen left leg, displayed some levity on what began as a scary situation.
Of Miguel Cabrera’s comebacker hitting him in the shin, Chavez said: “It took a little bit of the fat part of the little calf that I have.”
Asked later by a Detroit reporter if the aging Cabrera, a future Hall of Famer, can still hit, Chavez didn’t even need to think: “One-hundred percent. Yeah, absolutely. He can still hit the ball, 100 percent.”
Chavez suffered a left shin contusion, but this all could have been much, much worse. In the top of the sixth, Cabrera’s 99.6 mph one-hopper struck Chavez on the left shin. Chavez immediately went down, and stayed there for a couple moments.
His X-rays were negative. He went to a local hospital and underwent further evaluation, and those tests also came back clean.
This might have been a surprise to anyone who saw this scene: Braves athletic trainers George Poulis and Jeff Stevenson had to help Chavez off the field. They held up his left leg and walked him toward the dugout. Chavez couldn’t put any weight on that leg.
“I really didn’t feel the pain of that,” Chavez said of the injury. “It was more of the frustration of the lack of execution on my part, knowing what type of caliber hitter (Cabrera) is. That was the part that bothered me the most after the fact.
“I feel fine right now. It stinks. But it is something that you got to deal with on a daily basis.”
The Braves will evaluate Chavez when he arrives at Truist Park on Thursday. His leg, around the calf area, was swollen, almost as if someone sewed a baseball inside of him.
“I’ve been better,” Chavez said. “I’m happy with the results, that’s for sure. Things happen when you face a Hall of Famer, and throw some things in the same place a couple times. But no, it’s fine. I mean, it’s not the ideal time for it to happen with how taxed we are down there in the bullpen 400 feet away. …Just looking to get through (Wednesday) and onto (Thursday), and back into being able to help the team out.”
Chavez entered in the sixth inning in relief of Spencer Strider. He threw only four pitches before Cabrera, the first batter he faced, hit a comebacker right to Chavez. The ball took out Chavez’s legs, and he remained on the mound in pain for a minute or so.
“You’re always concerned when anybody gets hit like that,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said after the first game. “That ball was smoked, too.”
Chavez said his mechanics helped him. The way he landed aided him because the ball caught the side of his leg and didn’t drill him right on the shin bone.
In a way, it seemed like the Braves were fortunate with two potentially disastrous situations in this series: Marcell Ozuna was hit on the wrist by a pitch on Monday before the comebacker struck Chavez on Wednesday. Ozuna played on Wednesday, and Chavez’s test results were encouraging.
After Collin McHugh pitched, he went into the clubhouse – as did others – to check on Chavez, whom they call “Coach.”
“Any time a guy gets hit on the rubber, everybody kind of takes a big breath,” McHugh said. “Especially when it’s Coach out there. He’s been thrown ball so well. He’s kind of our dad, kind of our leader. You never want to see somebody go down like that. It’s really good.”
Chavez, who turns 40 years old in August, is certainly an All-Star candidate. Over 29 innings before Wednesday, he had a 1.55 ERA. He has pitched in any and every situation for the Braves.
He’s invaluable, both in the clubhouse and on the mound.
The play looked bad. It didn’t seem like a good sign that Chavez couldn’t walk off on his own power.
And yet, the outlook seems rather positive.
Asked what he first thought when the baseball struck his leg, Chavez said: “Go get the ball.”
That’s Jesse Chavez for you.
