Alex Gordon Carted Off Field with Apparent Leg Injury

Alex Gordon, arguably the best defensive left fielder in baseball and American League All Star starter, left Wednesday night’s Royals-Rays game after hurting his leg trying to run down a Logan Forsythe fly ball (which became an inside the park home run). Gordon ran into the outfield wall and then crumpled to the warning track. He couldn’t leave the field under his own power and was carted off.

As bad as it initially looked, the team called it a left groin strain and he’ll have an MRI.

We won’t know how much time the injury will cause Gordon to miss. Obviously it would be a significant blow for the first-place Royals if he missed extended time. As resourceful as Ned Yost might be, Kansas City will be hard-pressed to replace his production at the plate (136 OPS+) and glove, along with all the intangible stuff he brings to the Royals on a daily basis. At the very least his status for the All Star Game next week in Cincinnati appears doubtful.