Hardy to undergo CT scan on foot (plus more on O's 7-1 loss)

Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy will undergo a CT scan on Monday morning after fouling a ball off his left foot today in a 7-1 loss to the White Sox at Camden Yards.

Hardy already had X-rays taken on the foot, and while the initial diagnosis is a contusion, the Orioles are concerned about a more serious injury.

"I do know, I've got an idea," said manager Buck Showalter. "Right now, it's a contusion. He fouled a ball off his foot and it got real stiff and sore quickly, so he's going to get some more detail. I think it's a scan tomorrow to see the extent of it.

"They're going to look at it with a more extensive X-ray to see what they're dealing with."

Asked whether something showed up on the X-rays besides a bruise, Showalter replied, "Depends on who you're talking to. There are some things we want to look at further, make sure we get our arms around what exactly it is."

Hardy fouled the ball off his foot before drawing a walk in the fourth inning. He was removed in the top of the sixth, with Pedro Alvarez playing third base and Manny Machado sliding over to short.

The Orioles should know the severity of Hardy's injury by noon or 1 p.m.

"As you all know, there's different forms of X-rays," Showalter said. "There's an X-ray here, then you go to a scan and if you're still not getting the recovery you think you should be getting you go to an MRI."

Closer Zach Britton also will undergo an MRI on his left ankle on Monday after leaving Friday night's game with a sprain. X-rays came back negative.

"Zach is going to have an MRI tomorrow to make sure we know the extent of what we're dealing with there," Showalter said.

Two hugely important contributors to the team lost in consecutive games.

"We knew it wasn't a matter if, it was when," Showalter said. "You hope it's if. Some teams get real lucky in a year. But it's nothing we can't overcome and nothing guys won't be back from at some point."

Hardy, bothered last month by tightness in his calf muscle, already left the ballpark today before reporters were allowed inside the clubhouse. He began last season on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury.

The Orioles could place Hardy on the DL before Tuesday's series opener against the Yankees and recall infielder Ryan Flaherty from Triple-A Norfolk. Flaherty, who's headed to Louisville this afternoon with the Tides, can return before Thursday if replacing an injured player.

"It's part of the game," said reliever Vance Worley, who tossed 3 1/3 scoreless relief innings today. "It's not easy on anybody. In those cases it's not something that you realty expect on those plays, a foul ball.

"They'll bounce back and hopefully we'll get them back sooner rather than later. Until then, if there's moves, whoever comes up needs to fill in for them."

Before Hardy left the game, he was part of a unique and spectacular 5-6-3 putout in the fourth inning after Todd Frazier's sharp bouncer deflected off the glove of diving Machado. Hardy caught the ball in the air and made a strong off-balance throw to record the out, with first baseman Chris Davis scooping it out of the dirt.

"That's unbelievable," Showalter said. "Just to be here to watch that play. I don't know if there will be a better play made the whole year. We keep saying that."

The Orioles kept mounting threats against unbeaten left-hander Chris Sale, but never broke through until he exited in the sixth and Nolan Reimold delivered an RBI single off Jake Petricka.

"We all know he's going to be competing for a Cy Young Award this year, so you've got to pitch well against him and the opportunities you get ...," Showalter said. "We had some good at-bats. To get him out of there before the sixth inning is over, you like your chances.

"They've got a good bullpen, they had (David) Robertson back. We played them three days without their closer and we played them today without ours. A lot of similarities.
We got a lot of pitches over the plate they tried to shoot the other way, which they did the whole series."

Ubaldo Jimenez allowed six runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, with four walks, three strikeouts, a home run, two hit batters and a wild pitch.

"Both pitchers walked four guys. He had a couple hit by pitch. That was a little disappointing," Showalter said.

"They had four balls that were jam shots. Wasn't his day. He was a pitch or two from getting out. You knew the margin for error was going to be real short with Sale. On the one side, the command wasn't quite what it needed to be and they were fortunate with some balls, they were able to muscle them in there. That's one things about big league players, jams shots go a lot further. They also hit a lot of balls hard.

"Worley did a great job for us again to get us on our feet for the next series. That was impressive."