J.T. Realmuto leaves Phillies loss early after painful groin injury

Catchers throughout baseball will have nightmares about this.Phillies backstop J.T.Realmuto took a 94-mph foul ball Bo Bichette’s bat directly to the groin and he fell to the ground in agony during the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 2-1 walk-off loss to the Blue Jays.Realmuto eventually struggled to his feet and walked it off, thought he was removed from the game and replaced by backup Rafael Marchan.Umpire Paul Clemons attempted to give Realmuto as much time as possible, as he stood up and slowly tossed the ball back to pitcher Jordan Romano.The injury happened during the first at-bat of the bottom of the ninth and Romano retired Bichette once play resumed before the Blue Jays mounted the game-winning rally.Phillies manager Rob Thomson said after the game that Realmuto was being checked on by doctors.

“It’s a pretty good one,” Thomson said, per the Associated Press.“He said he’s had worse, but we’ll see.

We’ll check him out tomorrow.”The Phillies’ starting pitcher Wednesday, highly touted prospect Mick Abel, felt for his battery mate.“That’s something you never want to see,” Abel said.“I don’t really know how it feels, but I can imagine it’s extremely painful.”Romano, who suffered the loss after he gave up a game-ending hit to Alejandro Kirk, said Realmuto’s reaction showed how much it must’ve hurt.“J.T.

is a tough guy,” Romano said.“Seeing him go down like that, obviously, it had to hurt pretty good.

Just hope he’s all right.”Realmuto has been struggling this season, hitting just .226, the worst mark of his MLB career.He went 1-for-3 Wednesday night.The Phillies (37-24) and Blue Jays finish their three-game set Thursday afternoon and Philadelphia is 1 1/2 games behind the Mets in the NL East....