Phillies closer Jhoan Duran is taken off the field on a cart after being hit in the ankle by a line drive. (Credit: @BRWalkoff on X)
Everyone, hold your breath. Cross your fingers. Grab your lucky charms. Say your prayers.
Whatever it is that you believe in that sends good vibes through the universe and results in positive outcomes, you'll need to have that happen in overdrive for the Phillies and prize closer Jhoan Duran.
Duran took a line drive from Washington's Paul DeJong off his right ankle in the ninth inning on Friday and needed to be helped off the field by the Washington Nationals bullpen cart.
Here's the video of Jhoan Duran taking a baseball to his right foot/ankle:
(via @ACinPhilly) pic.twitter.com/jl2bavDcN8
There was a lengthy delay on the field after Duran was hit by the line drive as he stood in the same spot without putting weight on his foot for for about seven minutes before the cart took him off to get x-rays.
Duran was seen moving the foot around while he was standing there, but he obviously couldn't put weight on it, thus the need for the cart.
While waiting for the cart, DeJong came over to Duran and appeared to apologize for hitting him. Duran appeared to tell DeJong it wasn't his fault.
Manager Rob Thomson told reporters in Washington after the game that while waiting for the cart, Duran said he was starting to feel a little better and felt he could walk on his own, but the Phillies wanted him to ride in the cart because of how many stairs Duran would have had to traverse in order to get back to the clubhouse.
Thomson added that Duran was getting x-rays after the game, although when he met with reporters after the game he had not yet gotten the images back.
Rob Thomson on Jhoan Duran pic.twitter.com/XYCiQXeLsn
After getting his imaging, Duran was seen by reporters walking on his own.
Jhoan Duran emerged from the X-ray, walked on his own power with head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit, and went into the training room for treatment.
After Duran was carted off, Thomson turned to David Robertson to replace him. Robertson gave up a double, but then got three consecutive outs to close out a 6-2 Phillies win and snap a three-game losing streak.
The Phillies have built a comfortable lead in the N.L. East over the free-falling New York Mets, but while a six-game lead with 40 games to play may seem relatively safe, if Duran's injury is significant and needs to miss time, it would certainly impact the bullpen greatly.
The one saving grace for the Phillies is that Jose Alvarado is eligible to return to the team from his 80-game suspension on Tuesday, meaning they would have another high-leverage arm available to them at the back end until Duran could return.
Alvarado isn't eligible for the postseason, but he could be the most important bullpen piece over the final six weeks of the regular season.
It's unlikely that the Phillies will provide an update on Duran until Saturday afternoon, although they did tell reporters in Washington after Thomson had spoken that his x-rays were negative.
Per Phillies PR: X-rays on Jhoan Duran were negative. He will be evaluated further tomorrow.
