TORONTO – Brett Lawrie returned to the Toronto Blue Jays lineup, made a nice defensive play at third base, collected a base hit in his first at-bat and then left, though this absence isn’t expected to be nearly as long as his last one.
A bout of lower back tightness prompted the third baseman to pull himself from the game after three innings in Tuesday night’s 9-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, a move taken for “precautionary reasons,” according to the club.
Lawrie is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Wednesday and is listed day-to-day, abbreviating his recovery from a broken right index finger that sidelined him for about six weeks and 36 games.
“Something was grabbing at me the more I went about my business and what I was trying to do, it was like, ‘Alright, there’s something in there that’s bugging me, and I better take care of this before it gets serious,’” Lawrie said of his back after the game. “I don’t know what it’s going to be, this is my first game back, I really don’t want to make it permanent that I don’t get back. I really wanted to see what it is and get out of there and see what it was because it was alarming to myself.”
Lawrie spent the game’s final six innings receiving treatment and said his back felt a bit looser afterwards. Still, the MRI was planned so the team can “really see what it is instead of playing the guessing game.”
“My whole mentality about getting here today and whatnot was just trying to fly under the cover of radar and go out there and play like I never even missed a beat,” he said. “Just frustrating for myself that I had to take the high road and get of there and take care of my business, as much as I didn’t want to.”
Before the game, Lawrie insisted that getting hit on the right hand three times in a seven-game span – the last one leading to the fracture – won’t cause him to change anything with his hands at the plate.
“Nah, I can’t think about that,” he said. “I hadn’t been hit since I broke my hand in 2011 and all of a sudden I get hit three times. You’ve got to suck it up, it’s part of the game, go up there with some padding on my hand as best as I can and not worry about getting hurt.”
Lawrie will, however, be wearing some protective padding on his hand as a precaution after becoming the first of the Blue Jays’ big three to return from the disabled list.
Adam Lind (broken foot) is moving toward a rehab assignment that could start later this week with an activation possible as soon as this weekend or next in Seattle, said manager John Gibbons, while Edwin Encarnacion (right quad) is hitting again and is due start running in the coming days.
The Blue Jays had said initially they thought Lawrie would need about a week of rehab games before his return, but instead activated him after four hits in 10 at-bats over three contests with single-A Dunedin.
While they were cognizant of how Lawrie struggled after limited action during a pair of rehab stints last year, there was a need with Steve Tolleson on the paternity list and a meaningful series against the Orioles at hand.
“The first couple of at-bats you’re just trying to get a feel for things,” Lawrie said of his timing. “I haven’t done it in a little bit, trying to get the distance back and it’s going to take a little bit. I don’t expect me to go out there and do what Melky (Cabrera) is doing every single day, but I’m going to go out there and compete and do what I’m doing.”
And when he gets himself comfortable at the plate what’s happening?
“Not thinking, up there seeing the ball,” he said. “Basically it’s not thinking, going up there with that approach. That’s what I’ve been doing, I’m going up there, especially down there, trying to see the ball a little bit. Knowing who I’m going against (Bud Norris on Tuesday), I’ve had at-bats against him before, now it’s going up there with the same plan I always do, go attack, see strikes and try to do a job.”
Gibbons said for now Lawrie will be used at third base although once Tolleson returns, by Friday at the latest, the possibility of shifting him between second and the hot corner returns.
“Wherever it helps the team, but I do love third base,” said Lawrie. “Just as long as I get an opportunity to play every single day, that’s what I want, but we’ll see where that’s going to be.”
