(USA Today) The life of a catcher is never comfortable, but the last two games have been especially painful for Detroit Tigers backstop Alex Avila. Despite a few lumps behind the plate and a hit-by-pitch at the plate, Avila was able to tough it out in Wednesday's Game 4. But he couldn't survive a home plate collision with Boston Red Sox catcher David Ross, leaving Game 5 in the fourth inning.
According to the Tigers, Avila suffered a patella tendon strain in the collision. Despite being in obvious pain, Avila did attempt to play through his latest ailment for another two innings. He flied out to left field in his only at-bat, and later had his cage rattled again by a foul tip. That's when manager Jim Leyland finally decided to throw in the towel for his catcher, pinch-hitting with Brayan Pena in the fourth.
It was a big situation that Pena stepped into, too, so clearly Leyland and company felt Avila was going to be limited. Trailing 4-0 at the time, Detroit had runners at first and second against Jon Lester with one out. But the rally ended there, as Pena grounded into an inning-ending 6-3 double play.
In the sixth inning, Pena stepped up in the same situation and redeemed himself with an RBI, narrowing their deficit to 4-2.
For now, the Tigers are listing Avila as day-to-day. That could obviously change once the trainers give him a closer look and consult with Leyland, but the Tigers will hope to have him back and healthy enough to produce when the series moves to Boston on Saturday. We'll have more details as they become available.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
via Y! Sports Blogs - Yahoo Sports http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/alex-avila-leaves-alcs-game-5-following-home-024436784--mlb.html
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