Update: The Rays are sending Akinori Iwamura back to St. Petersburg where he will get an MRI on Monday. It seems like he will likely head to the DL.
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Rays second basemen Akinori Iwamura was carted off the field in today's game after being taken out on a slide by Marlins left fielder Chris Coghlan. Coghlan, trying to break up the double play, slid hard into second base and whiped out Iwamura's left leg. He succeeded in breaking up the 1-4-3 double play, however Jason Barlett on a heads up play, reached into Iwamura's glove, grabbed the ball and nailed John Baker trying to sneak in a run at home to complete the double play. The slide itself wasn't "dirty," but there was no intent by Coghlan to do anything but take out Iwamura. For Baker to keep running is a bit of a classless move in my opinion.
I'm not going to speculate on the severity of Iwamura's injury, but it didn't look good and the Rays had to cart Iwamura off the field to protect his left knee. In the interim, I would expect Ben Zobrist to get the most time at second base. If Iwamura does go on the DL, this would probably buy some more roster time for Reid Brignac, who would become the primary back up at middle infielder. I'm guessing an outfielder like Justin Ruggiano or Matt Joyce would be called up and take Iwamura's roster spot at least until Pat Burrell is ready. We will pass along updates as we get them, but in the mean time, good luck, Aki.