Uh oh, it's dumb baseball injury time. Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo was placed on the injured list on Sunday with a left hand fracture, per the ballclub, but there's more to it than that. Apparently, the left-handed pitcher worked his outing Saturday with the fracture of his pinky.
He turned in a pretty bad outing, giving up six runs -- three earned -- in three innings on five hits and two walks while striking out only one. It makes sense that he struggled, knowing that he was dealing with a fracture on his pitching hand.
Of course, he probably should have spoken up before the game. The A's didn't get X-rays until afterward, when they found out about the fracture.
It gets worse, too.
A's manager Bob Melvin revealed Sunday that Luzardo suffered the fracture while playing video games. Melvin said Luzardo "bumped" the pinky while playing, but that seems like an understatement considering we're dealing with a broken bone here. We've all seen our fair share of people "bumping" things when they get angry at a video game, right?
Bob Melvin says Luzardo has a hairline fracture in the pinkie finger. He said Luzardo was playing a video game before his start yesterday and bumped his hand on a desk. Luzardo and staff were OK with him pitching and an X-ray showed the fracture after his start. #Athletics
— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) May 2, 2021
Regardless, the A's will now have to fill Luzardo's rotation spot until his finger is healed and he can work himself back into starting shape. They recently inserted Mike Fiers -- his first outing of the year came on Friday -- so they have five starters right now with Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montos, Cole Irvin and Fiers.
The talented 23-year-old Luzardo is 1-3 with a 5.79 ERA, 1.61 WHIP and 30 strikeouts in 28 innings this season. He's been considered a top-10 prospect in baseball in the past.
The A's came into Sunday in first place in the AL West at 16-12, despite starting the season 1-7.
