ST. LOUIS -- As soon as the medical staff told Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr. that X-rays showed his shoulder wasn't dislocated or broken, he could relax. Almora had to leave Tuesday's 8-7 loss to the Cardinals in the fifth inning after he slammed into the center-field wall at Busch Stadium trying to catch Paul DeJong's fly ball.
"Once they told me, 'Hey, nothing's broken, there's no structural damage,' I started moving it around," Almora said. "Like I've said, the wall always wins. I'm happy, I'm in a good spot. I could play."
Almora suffered a contusion on his right shoulder in the rotator cuff area.
"That's a scary thing," Chicago right fielder Jason Heyward said. "The wall is undefeated. That's one of the things we always have to worry about. What I love about [Almora] is that he's so fearless when it comes to that. It looked like he tripped into it going after the ball hard."
The Cardinals had a runner at first and nobody out in the fifth when DeJong lofted the ball toward the gap in left-center. Almora and left fielder Ian Happ chased it, but Almora slid on his knees and hit the wall full force. DeJong was credited with a double and a run scored on the play, which gave the Cardinals a 6-3 lead.
Athletic trainer PJ Mainville and Cubs manager Joe Maddon went out to check on Almora, who was able to walk off the field under his own power.
"I tried to cut [the ball] off before it hit the wall and when I went to slide, I noticed I wasn't going to get to it and when I looked up the wall was right on me," Almora said. "There was no slowing down. Luckily, nothing's broken, nothing's damaged. All good.
"I was scared. I didn't really move. PJ was out there and said, 'Hey, nothing's out of place.' I didn't want to move it just in case I hurt something. I just wanted to take it as easy as possible."