SEATTLE – Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons was on crutches when he arrived at Safeco Field on Wednesday morning, about 12 hours after spraining his left ankle on a freak play in a sloppy inning of another loss on one of the worst trips in franchise history.
Now the question was whether the Gold Glove winner would require a stint on the 15-day disabled list. Braves manager Fredi Gonzaelz said Simmons’ status was “undetermined” and still hoped he wouldn’t need to miss more than three or four games.
“I have no idea,” Simmons said. “I mean, I don’t know. I’m hoping (to play) soon rather than later. But I don’t know when soon is, though.”
Simmons turned his ankle when he stepped on the corner of the third-base bag while covering the base on a play in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Mariners, the Braves’ seventh consecutive defeat.
“We’re going to keep our fingers crossed that it’s not a DL thing,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Wednesday before the last game of an eight-game trip in which the Braves still hadn’t won a game. “We’re going to let it play out here in the next couple of days.
“I’m sure when he gets off that plane tonight it’s going to be probably the size of a watermelon. But we’ll get him some treatment all day today and during the off day (Thursday), and then maybe we’ll dodge a bullet.”
The Braves had a 1-0 lead Tuesday when Seattle’s Logan Morrison hit a game-tying RBI single with two on and one out, and left fielder Justin Upton threw to the plate instead of the cutoff man.
“I don’t even know what happened,” Simmons said. “I don’t know if I hit the bag, or if my cleat got stuck. I was following the play and I guess when I saw the throw (go over) I was a little careless and got stuck or hit the bag.”
He was briefly attended to by Braves head trainer Jeff Porter before the two walked off the field, Simmons with a pronounced limp.
“I was really (ticked off) I had to come out of the game,” Simmons said. “You have no idea. I wish it was, like, a play where I was running and sliding, something productive.
The Mariners added three more runs in the four-run inning after second baseman Tommy La Stella dropped a two-out pop fly in shallow right field.
After the game, Gonzalez indicated that Simmons would miss Wednesday’s series finale, but said the Braves were hopeful that after two days of rest and treatment he could be ready for a home series against division rival Washington that starts Friday.
But that outlook seemed to worsen after the game when Simmons’ ankle swelled again soon after he removed an ice bag from it. He was given crutches to use before leaving the ballpark and returning to the team hotel.
“After he got iced, the swelling went down and he was able to walk on it,” Gonzalez said. “But then five or six minutes later the swelling came back up again and then he had to (use) crutches.
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed that in the next two days the ankle reacts to treatment, and maybe we can hold him out for three or four days and not DL him. But take it one day at a time. I think that’s why you use the word undetermined.”
Gonzalez said the Braves might use versatile veteran Emilio Bonifacio at shortstop this weekend if Simmons is sidelined. Bonifacio came from the Cubs in a trade last week and can play six different positions including any of the outfield spots and every infield position except first base.
Simmons had his ankle in a hard-plastic splint Wednesday morning and left his crutches propped against his locker stall when he went to the players’ dining area in the visiting clubhouse at Safeco Field.
"I don't have to be (on crutches)," he said, "but if I have to go far I'd rather use them. If it's just in the clubhouse, I can just walk around normal."
The injury compounded what has been a difficult recent stretch for Simmons, who was 7-for-51 (.137) in his past 16 games, with three doubles, a .228 on-base percentage and .196 slugging percentage, dropping his overall “slash line” to .249/.297/.340 with five home runs and 36 RBIs in 107 games.
Last year in his first full season, Simmons hit .248./.296/.396 with 17 homers and 59 RBIs in 157 games.
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