ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -Seattle’s Adrian Beltre has decided to undergo thumb and shoulder surgeries next week and will make his final appearance of the season on Sunday.
He has continued to play despite a torn ligament in his left thumb, and carried a 15-game hitting streak – the longest active streak in the majors – into Saturday night’s game against the Angels.
The Mariners’ third baseman was batting .270 with 25 home runs and 76 RBIs.
He will undergo both procedures on Thursday. An inflamed bursa in his left shoulder will be repaired and the shoulder cleaned out during routine arthroscopic surgery. The operation to replace the ligament in his thumb will be more complicated, and rehabilitation is expected to take up to five months.
Beltre, in the fourth year of a five-year, $64 million contract, said Saturday that he had decided to have the surgery so he can be 100 percent by spring training.
ll playing,” he said.
He tore the ligament in his thumb diving for a ground ball on May 31 of last year. He was back in the lineup in less than two weeks, and the torn ligament wasn’t discovered until the offseason.
He decided to hold off on surgery so he wouldn’t have to miss the start of this season.
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