Brendan Donovan leaves Cardinals’ loss early with toe discomfort

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals utilityman Brendan Donovan left Tuesday night’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays with left toe discomfort.

Donovan, who has mainly played second base this season but was the leftfielder on Tuesday, left the game after striking out on a nine-pitch at-bat in the eighth inning in the Cardinals’ 10-9 loss.

“It’s kind of the joint in his big toe,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “You can see that last at-bat, he couldn’t even get off his backside there. It was hurting him pretty bad so we took him out.”

Donovan received treatment but did not have an x-ray after the game. He is considered day to day.

“I was running around in the outfield, and it just started bugging me, and then it kind of just got progressively worse, and then it just got real grumpy at me,” Donovan said.

Donovan said that there wasn’t one moment that he hurt it, that it was more of a repetitive use injury.

“It’s on my left foot, so kind of that foot that I tend to rotate off of,” Donovan said. “I think that’s kind of what led to me coming out of the game. … Just kind of sleep on it, reevaluate it tomorrow, and then go from there.”

It would be a blow to the Cardinals if Donovan misses any time. Donovan won a Gold Glove as a rookie in 2022 and is putting together his best season at the plate hitting .310 with four home runs and 26 RBIs as the No. 3 batter in the St. Louis order.

“Donny’s a big part of what we’re about here,” Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas said. “You know, the way he can move around the diamond and obviously, you know, be a really consistent anchor in that lineup as far as driving the ball and getting on base and driving runs in. You know, that’s a bridge we’d have to cross if that happens.”

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