Blue Jays appear to dodge bullet on Devon Travis’ hand injury

Justin Smoak hit a two-run shot to tie things up and Josh Donaldson’s solo dinger got the Blue Jays a 3-2 win over the Yankees.

TORONTO — The Blue Jays appear to have dodged a significant bullet as X-rays on Devon Travis‘ left hand came back negative after the second baseman was hit by a pitch Sunday.

It happened in the seventh inning, when New York Yankees starter Luis Severino drilled Travis flush in the left hand with a 96-mph fastball. Travis immediately dropped his bat and ran towards his bench, before being quickly assessed by Blue Jays trainer Mike Frostad and allowed to stay in the game.

Travis then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and third on a groundout, where he had to slide head-first back into the bag after nearly breaking for home on a pitch in the dirt. Travis was slow to get up following the slide, and came out of the game after the Blue Jays’ third out to go for X-rays.

Travis said he was experiencing significant pain in his hand at the time and that he feared the worst.

“I thought I broke it. It was really scary,” Travis said, his hand covered in a thick, white wrap. “My hand was throbbing so bad. I couldn’t really open or close it.”

Travis received thorough treatment on the hand after the X-rays and will continue to be evaluated. Whether or not he can play Monday night when Toronto opens a three-game series in Oakland will depend on how much residual pain Travis experiences and how effectively the Blue Jays are able to decrease his swelling.

Losing Travis for an extended period of time would be a significant blow to the Blue Jays and demoralizing for the 26-year-old who has been one of the team’s hottest hitters over the last several weeks. After suffering through a deep slump early this season, Travis put up a torrential May, batting .364/.373/.646 over 103 plate appearances that month, with 20 extra-base hits.

After going 1-for-2 in Sunday’s game, Travis is now batting .259/.291/.438 on the season with an American League-best 18 doubles.

“It’s not broken—that’s great news,” Travis said. “I’m hoping I wake up tomorrow feeling good. That’s my goal. But at the same time, you’ve got to be a little bit realistic.

“Staying healthy is the biggest thing. It’s something that I’ve been talking about for a long time. But it’s not broken, so I can smile now.”

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