Pitcher Corbin Burnes left the Arizona Diamondbacks’ game versus the Washington Nationals on Sunday after suffering an apparent arm injury in the fifth inning.
Burnes was taken out of the game with elbow inflammation. But the team has “initial cautious optimism” that Burnes avoided serious injury, via USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale.
With two outs in the fifth inning, Burnes threw a high cutter that CJ Abrams pulled into right field for a single. The right-hander immediately called for help from the dugout and yelled in frustration. He stepped off the mound and pulled his cap up, indicating that something was wrong.
A team trainer then came out to check on Burnes and appeared to say that he hurt either his elbow or oblique.
Burnes then left the game, having thrown 70 pitches over 4 2/3 innings, the last of which was clocked at 91.5 mph — apparently one or two mph lower than he had been previously throwing.
In his first season with Arizona, Burnes has a 2.72 ERA and 3-2 record with 57 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings. The 30-year-old signed a six-year, $210 million free agent contract — the largest deal in team history — with the Diamondbacks that allowed for an opt-out after the first two seasons.
The 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner, Burnes had averaged 196 innings during the past three years. In eight MLB seaosns, he’s compiled a 3.16 ERA and 63-38 record while averaging 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings with the Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles and Diamondbacks. Including Sunday’s game, Burnes has thrown 968 innings during his MLB career.
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