Chipper injured after spikes catch in field
Atlanta’s Chipper Jones went down with a sprained right ankle and twisted right knee Sunday when the third baseman charged in on Mike Matheny’s slow roller in the eighth inning of the Braves’ 6-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
Jones appeared to get his spikes caught in the soggy field and grabbed his right knee as soon as he hit the ground, saying later he initially thought he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament. He rolled around on the field in pain, staying down for several minutes before being helped off.
Jones said he had a flashback to when he tore a ligament in his left knee in 1994.
“We just have to wait and see how the pain is the next couple of days,” Jones said, wearing a walking air cast on the ankle and no brace on the knee to leave the stadium. “Right now I feel the ankle took the brunt of it.”
Manager Bobby Cox said he didn’t consider the injuries to be serious, but that the Braves would give Jones a couple of days off and re-examine him Wednesday in Atlanta.
Indians’ Sabathia feeling better
Indians left-hander C.C. Sabathia did some light throwing Sunday for the first time since leaving Cleveland’s opener after only 2 1/3 innings.
Sabathia, on the disabled list with a strained abdominal muscle, reported no pain but did not have a timetable for his return.
“I made about 40 throws from 75 feet and felt just fine,” he said. Sabathia laughs off those who say that carrying nearly 300 pounds on his 6-foot-7 frame means he is susceptible to injuries.
“I can go stub my toe and people will say it happened because I’m too fat,” he said. “It’s comical, actually. I’m exactly the same guy now that I was down the stretch last year. Then, those same people were saying, ‘Look at him, ain’t he great?’ It’s just an easy story to write or talk about that I’m out of shape.”
Sabathia went 9-1 with a 2.24 ERA over his last 11 starts after Aug. 5 to finish at 15-10 with a 4.03 ERA.
That gave him a career record of 69-45. The 69 wins are the most of any current pitcher under age 26. And as for durability, Sabathia is one of only 12 pitchers to have made 30 or more starts in each of the past five seasons.
Clearing the bases
Rockies leadoff hitter Cory Sullivan tied a major league record on Sunday by hitting two triples in the same inning. It was the 11th time a big leaguer hit two triples in an inning, and the first since Gil Coan of the Washington Senators on April 21, 1951. … By beating the Reds on Sunday, the Pirates avoided falling to 0-7 for the first time since 1955, when they set a franchise record by losing their first eight games.