MIAMI – Braves infielder Gordon Beckham left Saturday night’s win against the Marlins with a strained left hamstring after pulling up while running out a ground ball in the sixth inning.
The Braves and Beckham hope he avoided serious injury and will be able to return to the lineup as soon as Tuesday, but they won’t know more until they see how the injury responds overnight. He won’t play in Sunday’s series finale and the Braves are off Monday.
“It definitely felt bad out there,” said Beckham, whose single in the fourth inning proved to be the game-winning RBI in the 6-4 victory. “But coming in here (to the training room) I had a lot of strength, more strength than I thought I was going to have, and they tested it. So it’s a positive.
“It’s the same leg I kind of strained in spring training, so I’m almost hoping it broke up the scar tissue and it’s not going to be a big deal. But it’s definitely a little sore right now.”
The versatile veteran’s strong recent performance has earned him the majority of playing time recently at second base, and he made his third consecutive start at the position Saturday. He’s 6-for-17 on the current trip and had two hits and two RBIs in Friday’s 6- 3 win.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said the team would hold off making any decision on Beckham until after a couple of days, to see whether he might be ready to play soon and avoid going on the 15-day disabled list, where the Brave already have center fielder Ender Inciarte recovering from a hamstring injury.
“You don’t want to rush into a DL and all of a sudden he’s ready (after a couple of days),” Gonzalez said. “But the reports right away are not as serious (as Inciarte). His strength is good. So we’re just going to wait and see if we can dodge a bullet there.”
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