Josh Naylor's historic Friday came to an early end.
The Canadian first baseman was lifted in the fifth inning of a 3-2 Seattle Mariners loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers with what manager Dan Wilson called minor groin tightness.
Wilson called Naylor's removal precautionary and the Mariners “wanting to be conservative with him,” according to MLB.com's Daniel Kramer.
Before exiting, the 28-year-old was 1-for-2 with a single and his 30th stolen base of the season.
It is unclear when Naylor suffered the groin injury, but he was thrown out trying to advance to third base on a fly ball in the third inning. Naylor, who had been serving as Seattle's designated hitter on the night, was pinch-hit for by Mitch Garver before his next at-bat in the fifth.
Naylor has been a major boon to the Mariners' offence since being acquired from Arizona before the trade deadline. The Mississauga, Ont., native entered Friday with an .829 OPS, nine homers and 18 stolen bases in 53 games with Seattle.
In reaching 30 swiped bags, Naylor became only the third first baseman to have 20 or more homers and 30 or more stolen bases in a season, joining Jeff Bagwell and Paul Goldschmidt. He also joined Larry Walker as the only two Canadians in the 20-30 club.
In fact, Naylor is the first Canadian to reach 30 steals in a single season since Walker did so in his MVP-winning 1997 campaign.
With the AL West title and AL No. 2 seed locked up, it makes sense that Seattle would be cautious with Naylor as it gears up for the ALDS.
