Anthony Santander, the heart of the Baltimore Orioles’ offense, was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a left oblique strain and could be lost for the remainder of the season.
The injury occurred during Friday’s 6-5 loss in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the New York Yankees. He appeared to be in pain after swinging through a pitch in the eighth inning.
“He’s going to miss a significant amount of time,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters. “When he came out of the game, that didn’t look good. That one definitely hurt. Tony is a huge loss for us. I was really happy with the year he’s had.”
Baltimore recalled outfielder Mason Williams from their alternate training site.
Santander, in his fourth season, was off to a productive start with 11 home runs and 32 RBIs over his first 37 games. He was not only tied for sixth in the American League in home runs at the start of play Saturday, he was eighth in slugging percentage (.575).
The Orioles were 17-21 heading into play Saturday four games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the final AL playoff spot in the expanded field for 2020.
Santander, 25, is a career .252 hitter with a .467 slugging percentage, 32 home runs and 99 RBIs over four seasons, all with the Orioles.