The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered a scare last week when Chris Taylor injured himself while throwing a ball to second base from the left-field line during Game 5 of the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves.
Freddie Freeman led off the bottom of the eighth with an opposite-field double, which was fielded by Taylor, who proceeded to make a perfect throw that was dropped. Making matters worse was that Taylor tripped, fell and rolled his ankle in the process.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Taylor heard a pop in his ankle. Taylor initially continued to play but was pinch-hit for when his spot came up.
The injury wound up costing Taylor one game, as he ultimately returned to the lineup for the pivotal win-or-go-home Game 7, and has since played in each of the first two World Series games.
“In the moment it really scared me,” Taylor said of rolling his ankle. “I’ve never sprained my ankle before. I heard the pop and obviously didn’t feel good.
“I immediately thought the worst and then once I put some weight on it, I was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was initially. I was still worried it was going to blow up.
“It swelled up a little bit, which made the next 24 hours difficult, but I was able to do some things in the training room and thankfully have a quick recovery to only miss the one game.”
At Globe Life Field, the warning track dirt is packed with more gravel than other stadiums. As for whether this played a role in his injury, Taylor could not say for sure.
“I don’t know if that had any impact on me turning the ankle,” he said. “It’s kind of a weird play where my momentum was taking me towards the wall and I was trying to plant and throw.
“I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. It is a little looser dirt than normal, but I’m not sure that impacted my ankle.”
Taylor’s injury did not require X-ray or MRI
While it was initially feared Taylor sustained a significant ankle injury, he did not undergo an X-ray or MRI. The Dodgers’ training staff put him through “mobility” and “strength testing” prior to determining he would not need any sort of medical scanning.
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