Kris Bryant Leaves Cubs Game With Knee Injury

Kris Bryant is in the middle of a fantastic year for the Chicago Cubs, so it was potentially devastating to see him leave the Wednesday’s game against the San Francisco Giants with a sore knee.

The Cubs announced his departure on Twitter:

Bryant appeared to hurt himself during a swing:

Entering Wednesday’s game, Bryant was hitting a career-best .299, with a career-high OPS of .967. The 27-year-old slugger also hit his 21st home run on Wednesday, has 51 RBI and 54 walks against 86 strikeouts in 97 games. He also has an fWAR of 4.1 thus far.

The Cubs currently sit in first place in the National League Central with a 0.5-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals. They’re searching high and low on the trade market to improve their ball club and that’s without Bryant potentially missing any time.

Here’s hoping this is something minor and doesn’t presage a long time on the shelf. Bryant is one of the best pure hitters in baseball and it would be awful if he had to miss time.