Braves right fielder Jason Heyward left Friday night’s game against the Angels after he was hit in the right hand by a pitch in his first at-bat.
The Braves said Heyward suffered a bruise and x-rays were negative for a fracture. Heyward said he’s not sure if he will play on Saturday in the second game of the series vs. the Angels.
“The player always wants to be back out there but that won’t be my call,” he said. “I’m just going to see what I can do and see how I feel tomorrow, ice it and do what they ask me to do.”
Angels left-hander C.J. Wilson’s pitch hit Heyward in the bottom of the first inning. Heyward took his base, scored on Evan Gattis’ home run and then fielded his position in the top of the second. But Jordan Schafer pinch hit for Heyward in the bottom of the inning.
Heyward took some practice swings before going back out to play defense.
“When it happened, I didn’t feel it a whole lot,” he said. “It got worse quickly as time went. I got ice on it right away and I kind of knew that I had to be smart about it and take better care of it. So I went out and played ‘D,’ then came out of the game.”
Heyward had two long stints out of the lineup because of ailments in 2013.
Heyward had an emergency appendectomy on April 22 and didn’t return until May 17. He suffered a broken jaw that required surgery when he was hit by a pitch on Aug. 21 and was out until Sept. 20.
In light of those experiences, Heyward said he was relieved to find out his hand injury isn’t serious. He’s played in 64 of 66 games this season.
“Don’t want to miss any games that way,” he said. “Broken bones obviously takes longer than a lot of things, so it’s good news and hopefully I’m back out there soon.”
