Mets' Tejada fractures right fibula in collision with Utley
New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada was carted off the field at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, departing in the seventh inning of Game 2 of the NLDS after a violent collision with Chase Utley, who barreled into the 25-year-old in an effort to break up a potential double play at second base.
Shortly thereafter, the Mets announced that Tejada has been diagnosed with a fractured right fibula that will likely sideline him for the remainder of the postseason.
Play was halted for several minutes after the collision while Tejada, who never lost consciousness, was attended to by medical personnel. After a brief delay, Tejada was carted off the field with his right leg in a soft cast, replaced at shortstop by Wilmer Flores.
Utley, meanwhile, was initially called out on the play, but was ruled safe after Dodgers manager Don Mattingly called for a replay review. The 36-year-old had entered the game as a pinch-hitter moments earlier, stroking a one-out single to center field that moved Kike Hernandez, the eventual tying run, to third base.
When Howie Kendrick stepped to the plate moments later, though, tasked with driving in Hernandez to even the game at 2-2, Utley did everything in his power to prevent Tejada from turning his one-hopper up the middle into an inning-ending double play.
According to MLB's official rule book, however, the umpiring crew could have ruled both Utley and Kendrick out if they determined that Utley deliberately interfered with Tejada:
Rule 6.01 (6)
If, in the judgment of the umpire, a base runner willfully and deliberately interferes with a batted ball or a fielder in the act of fielding a batted ball with the obvious intent to break up a double play, the ball is dead. The umpire shall call the runner out for interference and also call out the batter-runner because of the action of his teammate. In no event may bases be run or runs scored because of such action by a runner;
This isn't the first time Utley has taken Tejada out with a controversial slide, either. In 2010, during his tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies, Utley leveled Tejada, then a rookie, with a virtually identical slide, prompting some pointed remarks from Mets third baseman David Wright.
(Videos courtesy of MLB.com)
"Chase, he plays the game hard. He plays the game passionately," Wright said. "But there's a thin line between going out there and playing the game hard and going out there trying to get somebody hurt. That's a thin line. Nobody is going to push us around. We're going to have our teammate's back. I think cooler heads prevailed, but we've got to let them know that over on our side we didn't appreciate it and that we're going to go out there and have our teammates' backs. I think our bench let him know. As far as I'm concerned, it's done. We move on. We'll reevaluate the way we go into second base."
Five years later, Tejada's teammates were no more impressed with Utley's antics.
"That's not a slide, that's a tackle," said Michael Cuddyer, a two-time All-Star with more than 11 years of MLB service time.
"How is it a slide if he hits a player first?" asked Kelly Johnson, the 10-year veteran who joined the Mets in July.
To add insult to injury, meanwhile, Utley's slide effectively opened the floodgates in the bottom of the seventh, wherein the Mets' bullpen squandered an impressive outing from rookie Noah Syndergaard. With Utley at second and Kendrick at first, Adrian Gonzalez ripped a two-out double into the right-field corner that afforded the Dodgers a 4-2 lead before Justin Turner gave his club a three-run advantage in the following at-bat, plating Gonzalez with his second double of the game.
Tejada, who was on crutches in the Mets clubhouse after his club's 5-2 loss, did not speak with the media after the game, but was in a "somber" mood as he waited for the cart immediately after the incident, according to Wright.
Game 3 of the NLDS, now knotted at one game apiece, is scheduled for 8:37 p.m. Monday at Citi Field.