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Excerpt from article
Morales hits walk-off grand slam in 10th, hurts ankle in celebration
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Kendry Morales took a leap toward home plate and all of a sudden, a jubilant trip around the bases turned into a deflating trip to the hospital.
Morales hit a game-ending grand slam in the 10th inning Saturday, but twisted his ankle celebrating at home plate and got carted off the field after the Los Angeles Angels beat Seattle 5-1.
Morales landed awkwardly and twisted his left ankle. The severity of the injury was still to be determined.
"It'll change the way we celebrate," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "It sure was exciting, but you always wonder if it's an accident waiting to happen. This is definitely unfortunate. We've just got to wait and see what we're dealing with. We'll know more information as the night moves on."
"It's definitely not the mood we would expect in the clubhouse after a win, but when something like that happens, it's definitely disturbing," he said. "These guys all feel bad about what happened, but you've got to pick up the pieces and get ready to play tomorrow. It's a lesson for all of us."
A smiling Morales threw down his helmet a few steps from the plate, took a hop and then jumped toward the plate as teammates began to pat him on the head. Morales quickly went down and grimaced as he rolled onto his back. He lay on the ground for at least 10 minutes and waved his arms to the cheering fans as he was driven away.
"Anytime you have a walk-off hit, everybody celebrates at home plate," said starting pitcher Jered Weaver, who was icing his arm while watching the situation unfold on television. "It was just a fluke thing. You never want to see anything like that happen to a guy like that who's having a great start to the season -- or anybody for that matter. Hopefully it's not as serious as we think, but we're going to have to deal with it."
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"Obviously, we're going to have to change the way we go about celebrating something like that," he said.
Players who hit game-winning home runs often toss off their batting helmets as they head home, hoping their teammates won't pat them too hard on the head during wild celebrations.
Angels center fielder Torii Hunter left the game with a bruised left hand after getting hit by a pitch in the first inning. The three-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove recipient is batting .272 with seven homers and 29 RBI in 47 games. But his concern over Morales was his first priority.
"I'm just worried about Kendry. He's one of our best hitters. To see a great moment go sour like that, it's pretty bad. Hopefully he's just got a sprained ankle or something small like that," Hunter said.
"It's tough. You don't want to see him hurt like that. I was in here, checking out my X-rays and icing my wrist, but I was watching the game and screaming after the home run. But the screams just went to silence. I've never seen that in baseball, and that might be cut out in this organization." |
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