Angels’ Brandon Drury still out because of hamstring issue
Drury has been out of the lineup for six of the Angels’ last nine games. He returned to play last weekend in Cincinnati, but aggravated the injury. He says he’s hoping to start again on Friday.
ANAHEIM — Brandon Drury continues to deal with a maddening hamstring injury that he’s trying not to make any worse.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Drury said on Wednesday, the sixth game in the last nine that he’s been out. “I want to be out there and help the team and start driving these runners in, but I know that’s coming. For now, I want to get this hamstring feeling right so I can be out there full force.”
Drury first felt an issue in Boston the weekend of April 12-14, and it got serious enough for him to come out of the game on April 15 at Tampa Bay.
Manager Ron Washington didn’t put him in the field, on the turf at Tropicana Field, for the remaining three games of that series. Drury returned in Cincinnati – twice as the DH – but he said he felt it again on Sunday.
“I was grinding through it in Cincinnati and then that last at-bat I cramped up on the pitch coming to my head, when I fell to the ground,” Drury said.
Considering that the Angels are already without veteran third baseman Anthony Rendon because of a hamstring injury, Washington said he has decided to be conservative with Drury.
“If I had to put him out there he could go do it,” Washington said, “but I don’t have to put him out there and I want him to get healthy.”
Although Drury has been available to pinch-hit, it has to be a situation in which someone else could run for him and play defense.
Drury said he’s “shooting to start on Friday,” which follows an off day on Thursday. Washington said only that “we’ll see exactly how he feels” on Friday.
NOTES
Washington said he still has no information on the evaluation that Rendon underwent on Monday. The Angels are waiting to have a better idea of the severity of the injury. …
Washington took the field with shortstop Zach Neto for some pregame drills. Washington said Neto was giving him a hard time, so the 71-year-old manager wanted to show the 23-year-old shortstop what he could do. “I met the challenge,” Washington said. “Both of us were impeccable out there.” …
With Mike Trout moved into the leadoff spot for now, Washington said he’s content with Nolan Schanuel in the No. 2 spot. For now, anyway. “I got Schanuel in there hoping he can find his swing, some consistency, but I’m not going to sit here and say that’s the lineup you can put in stone,” Washington said. “Because as soon as I change it I’m going to get questions about it. I’m just letting you know at some point you might see a change. That’s just the way things go because we don’t have that cohesiveness working right now.” …
Friday’s game will be aired on KCOP (Ch. 13) instead of Bally Sports West because of a conflict with the Kings and Clippers in the playoffs. Game 3 of the Kings-Edmonton Oilers series will air on Bally Sports West, and Game 3 of the Clippers-Dallas Mavericks series will be on Bally Sports SoCal.
UP NEXT
Twins (TBD) at Angels (LHP Patrick Sandoval, 1-3, 6.75 ERA), Friday, 6:38 p.m., KCOP (Ch. 13), 830 AM