Mariners’ Jarred Kelenic goes on IL after kicking water cooler and fracturing foot
Jarred Kelenic walked into the Mariners dugout of T-Mobile Park with his head, eyes, already red from tears, fixed on the walking boot on his left foot.
In a season where so much had gone right and he was starting to move closer to being the player that he and everyone else believed he could be, the player he used to be, the one he had been working so hard to move away from, reappeared in the final moments of Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Twins.
After losing a difficult nine-pitch at-bat with Twins closer Jhoan Duran, who was firing fastballs at 104-mph and then dropped a 90-mph slider on the outside corner for a called strike three, Kelenic’s anger and frustration of being unable to deliver with runners on first and second and nobody out couldn’t be contained.
Furious at himself and his failure, he kicked a square Gatorade water cooler on the ground in the dugout and felt instant pain his left foot. Postgame x-rays and a bone scan on Thursday morning revealed a fracture.
He was placed on the 10-day injured list and outfielder Cade Marlowe was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to start in his place in the series finale vs. Minnesota.
Kelenic sat down to address the media, but was overcome with emotion that he had to pause a few minutes as he tried to hide the tears streaming down his face.
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“I just, I just made a mistake,” he said, choking up again. “I let the emotions get the best of me there. I just feel terrible, especially for the guys. I let the emotions get the best of me and I let them down. I take full responsibility for it. It’s on me. It just can’t happen.”
Marlowe, 26, will start Thursday’s game in left field, making his major-league debut. He was batting .255 (72 for 282) with 13 doubles, six triples, 11 home runs, 47 RBI, 25 stolen bases and 32 walks, reaching base at a .332 clip and slugging .461 with a .793 OPS in 63 games with Triple-A Tacoma this season. He has hit safely in 22 of his past 24 games.
This story will be updated.
Source: The Seattle Times
