Tigers fans were left holding their breath last night as C/DH Victor Martinez went down in the 8th inning with a knee injury after trying to avoid the tag at home.
Shortly after the game however, Martinez said he was feeling better and the knee seemed to be improving.
“Everything looks pretty good,” he said, “so we’ll see how it feels tomorrow.”
Things certainly looked bad at first after Martinez wasn’t able to put weight on the knee and had to be helped off by manager Jim Leyland and head trainer Kevin Rand.
“He’s all right,” Leyland said. “When I say that, I think he got a little more nervous than he got hurt. We had it checked out and everything’s pretty stable. We’ll have to wait and see tomorrow, but he should be fine.”
Fortunately enough for Martinez the Tigers and Tigers fan, Martinez said that the pain started to go away as he was going to the clubhouse and felt much better by the time the game ended.
“A lot better,” he said. “A lot better than when I went out. I felt a sharp pain. On my way up here (to the clubhouse), I felt the pain going away. I just iced it and I’ll see how it feels tomorrow.”
Tigers manager Jim Leyland said that doctors checked him out and they thought he was going to be fine.
“He was checked by the doctors,” Leyland said. “The doctor said he thinks he’s fine…”
Martinez is still expected to be evaluated further on Sunday and is officially listed as day-to-day. It seems like the Tigers may have dodged a major bullet since the injury looked a lot worse when it initially happened.
Source: Mlive.com