Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has been the Jays’ Mr. September. A spike to the hand could prove costly

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This article was published 23/09/2021 (1501 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MINNEAPOLIS—An often overlooked component of the Blue Jays’ late-season turnaround is that one of the reasons they have been able to rack up so many wins is because the roster has managed to stay healthy.

That might no longer be the case.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was forced to leave Thursday night’s 7-2 loss to the Twins in the bottom of the fifth inning with a lacerated hand. A few minutes later, right-hander Thomas Hatch called for the trainers and had to walk off the field with left hamstring discomfort.

The good news for the Jays is that X-rays on Gurriel’s hand came back negative, but he still had to receive two stitches in his right middle finger. After the game, acting manager John Schneider said it was “the best news we could get,” but the development could still be problematic because the stitches are in the same hand Gurriel uses to throw and one he obviously needs at the plate as well.

“I think when you’re dealing with any kind of cut, or laceration, nothing structurally wrong, I think that’s best-case scenario,” said Schneider, who was filling in at manager while Charlie Montoyo served a one-game suspension stemming from Wednesday’s dugout-clearing incident vs. the Rays. “He’s a big part of what we’re doing, so hopefully he’s back in there as soon as he can be.”

With all due respect to Hatch, who was promoted prior to the series opener to provide the bullpen with a rested arm, Gurriel’s health is the much bigger concern for a team that is battling for a spot in the playoffs with nine games remaining in the regular season.

Simply put, Gurriel has been the Jays’ most valuable player this month, which is quite the feat considering teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. remains a threat to win the Triple Crown and is a lock to finish the year top two in voting for the American League’s top individual award.

Gurriel had been playing so well of late that people should have started calling him Mr. September. In 22 games this month, he was batting .364 with seven homers, six doubles and two triples with a .426 on-base percentage. His 1.184 on-base plus slugging percentage was higher than what Guerrero, Marcus Semien or anyone else on the Jays roster has produced.

The 27-year-old has been the club’s offensive sparkplug for a while even though he typically hits in the bottom half of the order. On Thursday, he opened the scoring in the second inning with an RBI double to centre off Twins right-hander Michael Pineda. That gave him 30 RBIs in September, tied for the most in franchise history. The only other Jay who had that many was Kelly Gruber in 1990.

The latest incident took place in the fifth inning when he converged with centre-fielder Randal Grichuk on a double off the bat of Mitch Garver. Grichuk was the one who fielded the ball, and when he threw it back into the infield Gurriel was bent over in front of him, trying to stay out of his way.

Grichuk’s foot appeared to spike Gurriel’s right hand during the throw. The Cuban dropped even further to the ground, in noticeable pain, and the Jays training staff quickly ran onto the field. After a delay that lasted several minutes, Gurriel walked off the field with his right hand wrapped in a towel as television cameras showed blood spilling from the area.

Initially, it appeared to be a nightmare scenario for the Jays, who dropped a full game back of the Yankees for the second wild-card spot. The news got slightly better with the negative X-ray, but it seems unlikely Gurriel will immediately return to the lineup, even though the club technically is calling him day-to-day.

Considering how tight the standings are, losing Gurriel even for a couple of days would be a troubling turn of events. Losing him for a week or more could be downright catastrophic.

Hatch’s injury isn’t as concerning for the Jays’ immediate future because he has only been a part-time fixture on this year’s team. His role has been shuttling back and forth between Buffalo and Toronto, serving as the sixth starter and depth for the bullpen. Hatch experienced elbow issues earlier in the year which kept him out of action for almost two months, but the latest injury is unrelated.

The first half of the Jays’ season was defined by injuries. They were among the league leaders in missed games with a seemingly endless list of impact players hitting the injured list, frequently at the same time. The latter stages of the season, at least until recently, had been a different story.

Since George Springer returned from a knee injury at the end of August, the Jays had been playing with a mostly healthy squad — role players Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal were the only notable omissions. That changed last week when veteran Hyun-Jin Ryu was placed on the injured list with a sore neck. It potentially got worse Thursday night with the news surrounding Gurriel.

The Jays will need to wait and see how Gurriel feels on Friday afternoon before determining how long he will be out. Losing him for the rest of the Minnesota series would be disappointing enough, but the hope will have to be that he can play when the Jays open a crucial three-game series against the Yankees on Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre.

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“He has been unbelievably hot,” Jays catcher Danny Jansen said of Gurriel after the game. “You hate to see that happen to anybody, but having the X-rays negative, some stitches and stuff, it definitely could have been worse. Everybody’s grateful for that, so we’ll see.”

Injuries are never a good thing, no matter who they happen to, or when. But some hurt more than others and even a slight interruption to Gurriel’s torrid streak is a troubling development. Earlier this week, the Star asked Gurriel whether he had ever felt this good for this long at the big-league level. His answer was telling.

“I had a lot of injuries in the past, we all know that,” Gurriel said. “But this year has been great. I’ve been healthy, and I think that’s the key to my performance right now.”

Unfortunately for Gurriel, the narrative might have changed once again.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca