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Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis has been removed from his rehab start with the Akron RubberDucks after being hit in the hand in first at-bat. Kipnis was due up two innings later, but was replaced by Yhoxian Medina in the third inning.
Kipnis is currently rehabbing a shoulder injury that shortened his spring training and delayed his start to the 2017 season; this was his third game playing with the Double-A RubberDucks.
Completely coincidentally (OR IS IT?!), the pitcher who hit Kipnis was Justus Sheffield, one of the players sent over to the New York Yankees organization last July in exchange for Andrew Miller.
According to Indians Baseball Insider’s Jake Dungan, Kipnis was removed as a precautionary measure with a left-hand contusion.
Update: Jason Kipnis removed from tonight's rehab game for precautionary reasons with a left hand contusion. #Indians #RubberDucks
— Jake Dungan (@JakeDBaseball) April 12, 2017
That sounds like good news to me, and doctor of physical therapy Brandon Bowers agrees:
Contusion = bruise. Low level of concern at this point. Would presume he'll receive x-rays to rule out potential fracture #indians https://t.co/KAJwhPxJbM
— Brandon Bowers, DPT (@blbowers12) April 12, 2017