Braves second baseman Dan Uggla had to leave Saturday’s game against the Pirates with a strained left calf muscle, but is hoping he can return to the Braves lineup as early as Monday against Colorado.
Uggla injured his calf running up the line after grounding out to shortstop in the fourth inning. Ramiro Pena replaced him at second base in the bottom of the fourth inning and will get the start Sunday against Pittsburgh.
“It’s nothing big,” Uggla said. “But it was enough to where it could have gotten real bad if I stayed in. I tried to loosen it up once I got back to the dugout and it wouldn’t loosen up. I was like ‘It’s cold. Let’s just go in and get it taken care of so hopefully it’ll only be a day.’”
Uggla suffered a similar injury to his left calf on July 20, 2011 in Colorado and had to miss two starts after that. He said he probably played on it too long in that game and aggravated it. This time he tapped manager Fredi Gonzalez on the shoulder.
“It was smart on his part with the weather being so cold and he felt something there,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t want something that could be gone in two or three days be severe with a calf injury.”
