SEATTLE — Jarred Kelenic’s emotional outburst after a tough at-bat resulted in a damaged water cooler, a broken bone in his left foot and an apology by the Seattle Mariners young left fielder.
Kelenic was placed on the 10-day injured list on Thursday, a day after he kicked a water cooler following a ninth-inning strikeout during a loss to Minnesota.
Kelenic was apologetic, fighting through tears for letting his emotions get out of hand and expressing his frustration.
“I made a mistake. I let the emotions get the best of me there. I just feel terrible, especially for the guys,” Kelenic said. “I just let the emotions get the best of me and I just let them down and take full responsibility for it. It’s on me. It just can’t happen.”
Seattle manager Scott Servais said Kelenic will be out for an extended period but did not estimate a timeframe. The team doesn’t believe surgery will be needed.
“I think it’s a learning lesson for him. For all players,” Servais said. “Players get frustrated when they’re not getting the results they’re looking for. But you’ve got to be able to control your emotions and that’s part of being a professional. Last night he let it get the best of him and it affects all of us.”
Kelenic’s injury occurred in the ninth inning of Seattle’s 6-3 loss to Minnesota on Wednesday night. With two runners on in the ninth inning, Kelenic had a nine-pitch at-bat against closer Jhoan Duran that included fouling off several fastballs of 103 and 104 mph. Kelenic struck out on a breaking ball and expressed his frustration by kicking a cooler when he returned to the dugout.
“Came up last night with the game on the line, two guys on against arguably the best closer in baseball. I just put together a good at-bat, was just grinding, and unfortunately couldn’t come through. And like I said, I made a mistake,” Kelenic said.
Kelenic had X-rays that revealed the fracture. He was in a walking boot on Thursday and will be for some time.
“We got him. We got his back and we’re going to support him in any way we can,” Seattle outfielder Teoscar Hernández said.
Kelenic is in his third season with the Mariners and showed significant improvement at the plate, especially earlier in the season. He’s hitting .252 with 11 homers and 45 RBIs in 90 games.
“He’s had a nice season to this point. He’s made a ton of adjustments on the field and you can see it. There’s days when it looks great. There’s other days it has been a struggle like all young players,” Servais said. “But at the end of the day, when you react like that, and I think the thing that hits him as hard as anybody, it not just affects him, it affects the rest of us.”
Seattle recalled outfielder Cade Marlowe from Triple-A Tacoma and was in the lineup for Thursday’s series finale against the Twins. The Mariners won 5-0 and Marlowe went 0 for 3 with a walk in his major league debut.
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