Orioles’ Basallo says side injury isn’t serious, could play this weekend

SARASOTA—Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo, who left Thursday’s game against Detroit because of abdominal discomfort in his right side, was back in uniform on Friday.

“I feel good, thank God, I’m good,” Basallo said through a team translator.

In the top of the third inning, Basallo tagged out Detroit’s Matt Vierling at home plate. After he was examined by head athletic trainer Scott Barringer and talked with manager Craig Albernaz, he left the game.

“I remember diving and really feeling some discomfort, maybe some cramping,” Basallo said. “I didn’t feel anything grave, not an explosion of sorts.”

Basallo didn’t have additional testing

“It’s up to the organization,” he said. “If they wanted additional testing tomorrow or the next day, it’s up to them. We’ll see.”

Albernaz said that Basallo is ready to play.

“That was strictly precautionary. It was me using my judgment to get him out of the game,” he said. “Encouraging that he feels fine, feels great. Right now, we’re expecting him to play this weekend.”

Basallo wasn’t scheduled to play Friday in Bradenton against Pittsburgh. He donned catching gear in Sarasota.

“That’s going to depend on them. If I’m ready to play, then I’ll be ready to go,” Basallo said.

Last year, Basallo said he had a minor oblique injury that caused him to miss time. He doesn’t think Thursday’s injury was close to that.

With second baseman Jackson Holliday out because of surgery to repair a broken hamate bone in his right wrist and third baseman Jordan Westburg out because of a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, it appears fortunate that Basallo escaped a more serious injury.

“Even if Westburg and Jackson were healthy, you always hold your breath,” Albernaz said. “You don’t want any of your players to go down … Glad we did what we did and got him out of the game. Obviously, if it was regular season, I would push him a little harder.”

Basallo said it’s been a good spring.

“I feel really good right now. I feel like I’ve been able to improve a lot behind the plate,” he said. “I feel the organization is really happy where I’m at, how I’ve progressed, so I think it’s going really well.”

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