Braves can breathe sigh of relief over Marcell Ozuna injury

The Atlanta Braves had reason to worry after Marcell Ozuna was hit by a pitch and had to exit Monday’s game. The latest injury update is a big relief.

In an unexpected turn of events, Marcell Ozuna has become one of the Braves hottest hitters after starting the season ice cold. So the fact that he had to leave Monday’s game against the Tigers after being hit by a pitch was a huge concern.

Garrett Hill plunked Ozuna in the top of the fourth. Even though the designated hitter stayed in the game to run the bases, he looked like he was in significant pain and ultimately was removed from the lineup and replaced by Travis d’Arnaud.

The Braves soon tweeted that Ozuna was taken out “as a precaution with a right wrist contusion” and officially ruled him “day-to-day.”

The best part of that news was revealed by Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Marcell Ozuna’s X-rays were negative.”

Marcell Ozuna injury update: DH avoided significant injury from HBP

So the Braves can breath that sigh of relief while also crossing their fingers that this wrist contusion doesn’t knock Ozuna off of his hot streak.

He extended his eight-game hitting streak on Monday with a double in the second inning. As Grant McAuley of the 929 The Game pointed out, Ozuna is 39-for-120 in his last 33 games with 11 home runs, 27 RBI and a batting average of .325.

The Braves were in a good spot to win the first game of their series in Detroit with a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. However, Raisel Iglesias blew the save, giving up a two-run homer to Spencer Torkelson and then allowing the game-tying run on a Zack Short single. Torkelson drove in the winning run in the 10th inning for a walk-off to end a nine-game losing streak.

Now Atlanta will go into Tuesday’s game knowing they blew it the night before and with Ozuna’s short-term availability unclear. But it could definitely be worse if Ozuna had been badly injured. That’s a silver lining.