Seager likely to receive MRI after scary HBP to wrist

BALTIMORE -- Already hamstrung by injuries in a lot of ways this year, the Rangers received another enormous scare on that front Saturday night.

Texas superstar shortstop Corey Seager exited the club’s 6-5 loss to the Orioles after being struck on the left wrist by a Cade Povich pitch in the fifth inning. Initial X-rays on Seager’s left wrist were negative on Saturday night.

“That’s good news for us,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

Seager could still require further imaging down the road, as X-rays alone sometimes aren’t able to detect the full scope of hand and wrist injuries. The Rangers are also experiencing that kind of situation now with Josh Jung, whom they at least temporarily shut down again Saturday with concern for his surgically repaired right wrist.

“If we think we need another [test], we’ll do that,” Bochy said. “We got the best news we could’ve got on the first one. I know sometimes these things show up later, and it's a little bit of a concern because it got him pretty good. But we’re hoping for the best.”

Seager was not in the lineup for Texas' series finale against the Orioles on Sunday, with Bochy saying he was "pretty sore." Bochy said Seager would likely get an MRI on Monday when the team returns to Texas. The Rangers should have a better read on Seager's situation by Tuesday. It won't be long after that that they'll need to determine whether or not Seager needs a stint on the injured list.

"He's not out of the woods yet, but we hope he's ready in a few days," Bochy said.

Still, Seager and the Rangers feel a sense of cautiously optimistic relief, given how much worse things looked right away. Seager cleared his hips as if to begin swinging at the left-handed Povich’s 90.5 mph sinker before recognizing it was boring in on him -- and fast. He checked his swing as the pitch struck his left, trail hand, and fell to the ground.

Though Seager quickly stood up under his own power, he immediately bolted to the dugout before team assistant athletic trainer Jacob Newburn even reached the batting circle.

“When he walked off, I was sick to my stomach,” Bochy said.

Seager stopped short of saying he assumed the wrist was broken, but acknowledged the gravity of the initial concern.

“You never assume, but it wasn’t great,” Seager said. “Anytime it's not broken in that situation, it’s better than it could be, so I don’t know. We’ll see how I come in tomorrow and answer that better tomorrow.”

Davis Wendzel replaced Seager on the bases and stayed in the game at third while Josh Smith shifted over to shortstop the following inning. At that point, Seager had accounted for half the Rangers’ offense with his 15th home run, a solo shot off Povich in the first.

Derek Hill, Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis García also homered in support of Michael Lorenzen, but Orioles designated hitter Heston Kjerstad’s fifth-inning grand slam helped send the Rangers to their sixth straight loss.

Texas is also mired in a nine-game road losing streak, as it dropped to a season-worst nine games under .500. Overall, the Rangers are just 17-27 on the road this season, third-worst in the American League behind only the A’s (12-32) and White Sox (8-33).

“Lightning hit us twice on this road trip, two-out grand slams,” Bochy said. “The only thing you can do is power your way through this thing we’re in … All you can do is keep going hard and see what happens at the end.”

The Rangers have played most of the year without key regulars Max Scherzer (recently returned), Jacob deGrom and Jung, and their offense is currently without Evan Carter, as well, as it stumbles through a prolonged difficult stretch. Texas will enter play Sunday tied for 17th in MLB in runs scored (346) after having the game’s third-most potent offense in 2023.

Last year’s World Series MVP, Seager is hitting .260 with 37 RBIs and a .796 OPS in 72 games this season. Seager’s homer on Saturday was his second in his past 21 games, after hitting eight in an eight-game span in late May.

“It sucks, but glad the X-ray came up negative,” Lorenzen said. “Hopefully he can recover as quickly as possible, because we need him.”