Mattingly: Stanton injury 'didn't look real good'

The Miami Marlins are holding their collective breath after slugger Giancarlo Stanton suffered a possible groin injury on the final play of Saturday's game against the Chicago White Sox.

Trailing 8-7 with two outs in the ninth, Stanton tried to stretch a single into a double after White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton was unable to come up with the sliding catch. As he made his move to second, Stanton began to pull up lame and awkwardly dove toward the base headfirst. He was tagged out and remained on the ground before limping off the field.

"It didn't look real good," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, according to MLB.com's Joe Frisaro, when asked whether Stanton was OK. "If you've seen that replay, it looked like he kind of pulled something. He felt something in his groin area. They're looking at him now. We'll see what happens with that."

Should Stanton miss any time at all it would represent quite a blow to the playoff-chasing Marlins, who have now lost three straight to fall a half-game behind St. Louis for the National League's second wild-card spot.

Stanton's ninth-inning hit was his third of the night. He also had a solo home run - his 25th of the season - in the second inning. The Marlins slugger is now hitting .244./329/.496 with 19 doubles and 70 RBIs in 102 games.