SEATTLE -- Every day when Rockies shortstop Trevor Story wakes up, he expects to play. But Saturday a bone bruise on his right foot led to his games-played streak ending at 139 games.
The Rockies absorbed Story's absence and won for the eighth time in nine games. Pat Valaika, Story's replacement, had two hits and a walk in a 5-1 victory over the Mariners.
Story, an All-Star candidate (.282, 16 HR, 60 RBIs -- fourth in National League heading into Saturday), was hit on the foot by a pitch from Mariners left-hander Roenis Elias in the seventh inning of the Rockies' 7-1 victory Friday night. Story finished that game and even beat out an infield single in the ninth. He was in Saturday's original lineup before being scratched a little less than 90 minutes before first pitch.
Before Saturday, Story had played all but one of the Rockies' 781 defensive innings at short.
"Last night, I finished the game -- ran really hard -- and I felt fine," Story said. "It got a little sore last night, and I woke up this morning and it was a little swollen. It felt pretty sore.
"We were trying to see if I could play as late as we could hold off. I couldn't really run too hard today, so we played it smart."
Story said he hopes to play Sunday, when the Rockies go for a three-game sweep. If not, he'll have extra time to rest, since the Rockies are off Monday.
"My goal is to play tomorrow," he said. "We've done a lot of treatment today and it's feeling better, but it's a bone bruise so it's pain tolerance and stuff like that. I was able to hit today. Hopefully, I'll be able to run tomorrow."
The last time the Rockies' defense took the field without Story was June 2, when Daniel Castro (now at Triple-A Albuquerque) played the ninth inning of a 12-4 loss to the Dodgers. The last time Story sat out a game was last Aug. 5, against the Phillies.
Story has been running consistently fourth at shortstop in the National League voting, according to Camping World MLB All-Star Ballot updates.
A compromised foot would be limiting for Story, who ranks eighth in the Majors on the Statcast™ Sprint Speed Leaderboard, with an average top sprint speed (on all-out speed) of 29.7 feet per second. "Elite" sprint speed is considered 30 feet per second.
Story was elite twice in Friday night's game against the Mariners. In the third, he reached 30.5 feet per second to beat out a potential double-play relay. In the ninth -- two innings after he was hit -- he reached 31 feet per second while beating out a ground ball.