Albert Pujols of the St.Louis Cardinals will be missing 4-6 weeks with a fractured left forearm.
The team announced the results of an MRI and CT scan Monday, a day after Pujols was injured during a home game against Kansas City. The team said Pujols has a non-displaced fracture of his left radius and his arm is in a splint.
General manager John Mozeliak was scheduled to discuss the situation Monday afternoon.
The three-time NL MVP was hurt after Wilson Betemit hit a chopper up the middle off Cardinals starter Jamie Garcia.
Second baseman Pete Kozma backhanded the ball and made a jump-throw to first, pulling Pujols off the bag toward home. As the slugger tried for a tag, Betemit ran into his glove hand and Pujols went down to the ground in pain.
“He hit me on my wrist and my shoulder,” Pujols said afterward. “He kind of jammed me back. It’s the toughest play to make as a first baseman. It’s a bang-bang play. I saw the replay a couple of times, but I didn’t really want to look at it.”
Pujols is hitting .279 this year, starting to heat up after a slow start. The team said his left shoulder was sore, but no structural damage was found.
Betemit said there was no way to avoid Pujols.
“I was running hard and the ball arrived at the same time I got to the base,” Betemit said. “I couldn’t do anything about it. He hit me on my left arm, that’s why he dropped the ball. I hit him and then I saw him on the ground. That’s part of the game. I couldn’t do anything about it.”