Toronto Blue Jays' Brett LawrieFred Thornhill/The Canadian Press
The results of a magnetic resonance imaging test on Brett Lawrie's back are not ready yet but Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said the third baseman "feels a little better."
However, Lawrie was kept out of Wednesday's second game of the series against the Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre. Lawrie, who returned to the Jays' lineup in the series opener on Tuesday after missing almost seven weeks with a broken right index finger, pulled himself in the third inning of the 9-3 loss when his back tightened up.
"Hopefully not too long," was Gibbons' tentative assessment of the possible length of Lawrie's absence from the lineup. He expressed hope another stint on the disabled list would not be necessary for Lawrie and then ruefully reflected on the team's sorry luck with injuries in this baseball season.
"Like I say, I've been wrong many a time before," Gibbons said. "A few days turn into months."
The results from Wednesday's MRI were sent to the Jays' doctors in Florida for comparison to a previous MRI Lawrie had when he injured an oblique muscle. The Florida doctors also sent the oblique MRI result to the Toronto doctors. Between the entire group of doctors the latest MRI will be compared with the previous one and a consensus will be reached on a prognosis for Lawrie.
Lawrie was not available for comment Wednesday but after Tuesday's game he said the soreness was "alarming to myself," but he did not consider the injury serious. It came up in batting practice late Tuesday afternoon and lingered so Lawrie decided to leave the game.
Gibbons said first baseman Adam Lind, out since July 8 with a broken foot, will start a rehabilitation assignment Thursday with the Jays' Gulf Coast League team. Edwin Encarnacion (quadriceps) is back running on the treadmill and swinging the bat after a setback but there is no timetable for his return.