Morales breaks leg after slamming M’s
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Kendry Morales fractured his lower left leg while celebrating his game-ending grand slam in the 10th inning to give the Los Angeles Angels a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.
Morales is scheduled to undergo surgery today. He was leading the club in batting average (.290), home runs (11), total bases (94) and RBIs (39).
Morales connected with one out and circled the bases to a waiting celebration. He leaped toward home plate and landed awkwardly.
“It’ll change the way we celebrate,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “It sure was exciting, but you always wonder if it’s an accident waiting to happen.”
A smiling Morales threw down his helmet a few steps from the plate, took a hop and then jumped toward the plate as teammates began to pat him on the head.
Morales quickly went down and grimaced as he rolled onto his back. He lay on the ground for at least 10 minutes and waved his arms to the cheering fans as he was driven away.
“Anytime you have a walk-off hit, everybody celebrates at home plate,” said starting pitcher Jered Weaver. “It was just a fluke thing. You never want to see anything like that happen to a guy like that who’s having a great start to the season – or anybody for that matter.”
Maicer Izturis hit a one-out double in the 10th against Mariners reliever Brandon League (4-5). Bobby Abreu was intentionally walked and Reggie Willits followed with a grounder that was misplayed by second baseman Chone Figgins.
“I was trying to get down and it took a bad hop,” Figgins said. “I wasn’t trying to turn the double play. I was set up to throw to first, but it kicked back toward me.”
Morales drove the next pitch to left-center for his 11th home run and the eighth game-ending slam in Angels history.
Brian Fuentes (3-1) pitched a perfect 10th.
Seattle’s Felix Hernandez took a five-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the eighth before Abreu’s solo home run.
The Mariners took the lead in the fourth with the help of a throwing error by shortstop Erick Aybar.
•Boxscore, C6