The Philadelphia Phillies suffered a soul-crushing defeat in Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park. Not only did they cough up a late lead after a gem by starter Cristopher Sánchez, but they lost outfielder Harrison Bader in the middle of the game due to injury.
Bader was replaced by pinch-hitter Nick Castellanos in the bottom of the seventh inning after he injured himself pulling up to second base two innings prior. Bader still remained on defense until he was eventually replaced as a hitter. The injury initially seemed like a hamstring strain, but it was later diagnosed as a groin injury.
After testing on Sunday, it appears Bader may have gotten lucky after imaging showed no major tear or strain was suffered, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic.
Harrison Bader is in play for Game 2, Rob Thomson said. Exams showed no major groin tear or strain. He’ll receive treatment today, then they’ll see if he can start or at least come into game later.
https://twitter.com/MattGelb/status/1974862292409020589?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1974862292409020589%7Ctwgr%5E75e5d8e37e87c5ac79f489495f49ce19f4912416%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthatballsouttahere.com%2Fphillies-get-best-possible-news-about-harrison-bader-injury-ahead-of-game-2
Phillies catch a break after imaging comes back clean for Harrison Bader
There was an overwhelming amount of uncertainty after Bader went down. It felt like a wave of hopelessness washed over Philadelphia in a matter of minutes. There was some glimmer of hope however, when Phillies manager Rob Thomson stated post-game that Bader felt much better after he had some time to work out the injury with the training staff, per MLB.com’s Paul Casella.
“We’ll know more tomorrow,” Thomson said on Sunday, per Casella. “But I think, after the game, they stretched him out, they got him moving around a little bit and I think he felt a lot better after that. We’ll know whether he’s available to start or at least to pinch-hit — we’ll know more tomorrow.”
The news is massive after already feeling the dread of a Game 1 loss at home. Losing Bader would have left even less hope trying to fight back from a 0-1 deficit against the Dodgers. Bader luckily, didn’t feel too worried about the injury, but just chalked it up to a dose of bad luck.
“It just felt a little weird. I don’t know, really, what to attribute it to,” Bader said, per Casella. “I made a full-speed diving catch in center and obviously felt good all day swinging and everything — took some pretty intense swings up there prior to that. I just think random things happen, unfortunately.”
WHAT A PLAY.
WHAT A GIFT. pic.twitter.com/8mqg6NBaUohttps://twitter.com/Phillies/status/1974624895276585401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1974624895276585401%7Ctwgr%5E75e5d8e37e87c5ac79f489495f49ce19f4912416%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthatballsouttahere.com%2Fphillies-get-best-possible-news-about-harrison-bader-injury-ahead-of-game-2
Bader was on a tear coming into the postseason. He hit .305 with an .824 OPS as a member of the Phillies since the trade deadline, and was hitting .314 in the month of September. He’s been an important part of what the Phillies have in the outfield, especially as a shutdown defender. The Phillies need him out there every day if possible, and it looks like there’s a chance they’ll see him again as the club gets the day off in between games before Game 2 on Monday.
