This Could Be Bad: Kyle Tucker Leaves Cubs Game in 5th Inning After Multiple Injury Scares

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images

Chicago Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker slid very awkwardly into second base on a steal attempt early in Sunday's rubber match with the Cincinnati Reds. Tucker's left hand hit the dirt earlier than he intended, with threw off his balance and led to a crashing flop into the base. Whether he was trying to make an adjustment to avoid an incoming tag or just miscalculated as he launched himself downward and toward the pillow, Tucker ended up rolling over his right hand a bit, and his head bonked into the ground with an uncomfortable-looking, helmet-displacing whack. 

Tucker moved fluidly through the lurching one-car traffic accident, absorbing the force of the ground and rolling through it. An uneasy but depressurizing turn of his neck and a quick swim of that momentarily trapped right hand saved him from the most obvious sources of possible damage, but he still looked moderately shaken up. As he made his way back to the dugout, he seemed to shake out each hand a bit, but it was his face and head that attracted most attention thereafter. The risk there is a minor whiplash incident, leading to a concussive impact between one's head and the ground. Tucker wouldn't be the first player to suffer a concussion in exactly such a self-inflicted way, in fact.

Still, he stayed in initially, and only after a fourth-inning at-bat in which he also fouled a ball off his own toe did he depart. That introduces a second source of worry, since a foul ball on which he broke his own shin cost him the second half of 2024—an injury he suffered, in fact, in the first week of June.

Whatever led Tucker to be removed from the game, it doesn't appear to have been as serious as any of the above. It wouldn't be surprising to learn that the team simply lifted him for precautionary reasons, with a day off coming Monday and a four-run cushion with which to work. Still, this situation demands monitoring. If the Cubs do end up being without Tucker for any meaningful period, they'll need the rest of their key hitters to step up in major ways. We'll update this piece when more information emerges.

UPDATE: According to the Cubs, Tucker was removed with a jammed right ring finger. We can safely assume that that happened somewhere in the process of that strange slide, where he landed on the right hand in a way sliding mitts aren't especially adept at absorbing. We'll wait to see whether he goes for any X-rays to check for a break, but tentatively, this reads as good news. It was an ugly play, but doesn't seem to have unduly cost Tucker or the team.

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