Ruben Tejada badly injured on hard Chase Utley slide in Dodgers win over Mets
Sunday 11 October 2015 10:28, UK
Controversy over a serious injury stole the headlines after the Los Angeles Dodgers levelled their National League Divisional Series against the New York Mets.
Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada suffered a broken leg when Chase Utley slid into him as part of a four-run Dodgers rally in the bottom of the seventh inning at Dodger Stadium.
The Mets were leading 2-1 when the Dodgers put runners at the corners with one out against starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
Howie Kendrick hit a grounder up the middle and Utley, sliding well outside of second base to try and stop Tejada converting a double play, took away the fielder's legs and caused him to flip over.
Utley was ruled safe on the play and, after a delay while Tejada was carted off the field, Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run double and Justin Turner batted him in to make it 5-2, which turned out to be the final score.
But Utley could face sanctions for the play, which will be reviewed by the league's chief baseball officer, former New York Yankees coach Joe Torre.
"I'd hate to think that Utley tried to hurt somebody," said Torre. "It certainly was late. That concerns me. The lateness of the slide. I'm looking at it to see if anything should be done."
Mets third baseman David Wright was furious and admitted it had been the turning point in a game the Mets were leading 2-1 on home runs from Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto.
Wright said: "Only Chase knows going in there what the intent was.
"I have a problem with the play on a number of different levels, one being the slide itself. In my opinion, he wasn't anywhere close to the bag. With that being said, he never touched the bag.
"And I think the 'neighbourhood play' is there to protect players. It definitely seemed like after that play we lost the momentum and they came up with some big hits."
The other National League series is also tied at 1-1 after the Chicago Cubs made the most of a five-run second inning to beat the St Louis Cardinals 6-3. Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer for the Cubs.
