Upton injury not believed to be serious

ROGER MOONEY
rmooney@bradenton.com

WINTER HAVEN – The Rays received a scare in the top of the first inning Thursday when B.J. Upton was drilled above the left elbow with a fastball from Cleveland’s Paul Byrd.

He walked slowly to first and was attended to by Rays assistant trainer Paul Harker for about three minutes then left the game.

“He couldn’t get a good feel or grip or close his wrist,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

The official word from the Rays is Upton suffered a contusion in his triceps and returned to St. Petersburg, where he saw one of the team doctors.

“I don’t think it’s anything serious,” Maddon said. “It just hit him in a bad spot. It swelled up very quickly.”

The irony was Upton was originally scheduled to play center field, but was moved to designated hitter after the Rays arrived at Chain O’Lakes Park and saw the remains of a big puddle in shallow center field. Maddon decided not to play Upton in the outfield so as not to risk a leg injury while running on the soggy turf.

So he leaves the game with an arm injury from batting.

“We’ll see later, but I think he’s going to be fine,” Maddon said.

Second baseman Aki Iwamura left the game with stiffness in his lower back, but Maddon expects Iwamura to play tonight against the Yankees in Tampa.