Andre Ethier missed Tuesday's game against the Mets with what was first termed as tightness in his left calf. But it turned around to be much more serious than a scratch from the lineup, as Ethier went to the hospital to have it checked out.
Ethier's calf tightness stemmed from getting hit by a pitch on Aug. 4 at Wrigley Field, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. Ethier said his calf hadn't healed properly and he was sent to the hospital, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles Daily News:
Ethier said that doctors ruled out the worst-case scenarios, including a blood clot, and gave him "something"— presumably medicine of some sort — to treat the symptoms. The 31-year-old outfielder said his calf feels stiff after he’s been sitting for extended stretches, and "the first five, six steps out of bed in the morning aren’t fun."
The good news for Ethier is that the injury doesn't seem serious, and he could return to the lineup either in Wednesday's series finale against the Mets or Friday in Philadelphia. Per the now independent Tony Jackson of Dodger Scribe:
Ethier himself seemed rather cavalier about the whole thing after the game, smiling, loose and saying, "It’s all right. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow."
Ethier has played in 114 of 119 games on the season, second on the team to Adrian Gonzalez and one of only two Dodgers to play more than 95 games this season.
Ethier is hitting .267/.350/.393, career lows across the board in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and on pace for the same with just seven home runs. He is in the first year of a five-year, $85 million contract extension signed in May 2012, the first large expenditure by Guggenheim Partners as owners of the Dodgers.
He hit .312/.389/.462 with eight doubles and two home runs in July, his best month of the season. In eight games since getting hit by the pitch against the Cubs, Ethier is hitting .241 (7-for-29) with a double, triple and five RBI.