John Jaso suffers left wrist injury on obstruction at second base

John Jaso was injured in the first inning of the Opening Day game as the lead off hitter, suffering a left wrist contusion.

The injury occured as Jaso attempted to reach second on a pitch in the first, and Baltimore Orioles second baseman Ryan Flaherty blocked the bag by placing his leg on the ground in front of the slide.

John Jaso has a left wrist contusion, and X-Rays were negative

— Neil Solondz (@neilsolondz) April 6, 2015

Negative x-rays are certainly the sunny side, for an injury that looked immediately evident on the collision. On the broadcast, Kevin Cash was visibly saddened by the injury news right way. Three pitches into his interview, the broadcast said thanks for talking and let him go on his way, complimenting his hard work through the season.

In my opinion, the play was most certainly obstruction, as defined by the rule book. Official Baseball Rule 2.00 defines obstruction as:

The act of a fielder who, while not in possession of the ball and not in the act of fielding the ball, impedes the progress of any runner.

The knee of Flaherty was down in advance of the throw, and Jaso had no route to the bag.

#Rays John Jaso is out trying to steal second as #Orioles Ryan Flaherty blocks the bag & makes the tag during 1st inn pic.twitter.com/XDs7Irb8eK

— Dirk Shadd (@DirkShadd) April 6, 2015

We will share video when available.

Later in the fourth inning, Steven Souza Jr. would get caught in an accidental run down, turning left after running out a groundball up the first base line. He beat the hurried and wild throw, but the Orioles defenders started calling for the out and Souza was run down. He was slow to get up, but would stay in the game.