ATLANTA (AP) -Chipper Jones was held out of the Atlanta Braves’ starting lineup Thursday due to ongoing problems with sore thumbs.
Jones bruised both of his thumbs in a May 11 collision with Pittsburgh’s Jose Bautista, causing him to miss four games. Even though he returned to his starting job at third base, he has had difficulty playing through the soreness.
Jones fell on his hands while diving for a ball in Tuesday night’s series opener against the New York Mets and almost pulled himself out of the lineup before Wednesday night’s game.
Afterward, he told manager Bobby Cox the soreness was affecting his play.
“It’s becoming pretty troublesome,” Jones said on Wednesday. “Every time I hit the ground, I hurt it. Every time I take a check swing, I hurt it. I’m not going to go out there if I can’t help the team.”
Cox said he didn’t know if Jones would miss more than one game.
“I don’t know, but I can tell you it’s sore,” Cox said, adding Jones’ thumbs “were black and blue” after the collision.
“Those things do not heal – at all,” Cox said.
Jones is hitting .300 with 12 homers and 27 RBIs. He is third in the NL in homers and leads the league with a .625 slugging percentage.
Martin Prado was listed as the Braves’ starting third baseman.
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