D-backs’ Ahmed leaves game with finger injury, scratched on Tuesday

Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed left Monday’s game against the Miami Marlins with an injury to a finger on his right hand.

Ahmed anticipated that he would be fine and play on Tuesday, and he was indeed in the D-backs lineup. But after throwing balls before the game, the injury was still giving him issues and he was scratched from the lineup. D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said Ahmed is day-to-day.

In the eighth inning with the D-backs up 7-5 on Monday, Ahmed was fielding a groundball hit to his position.

While Ahmed went to field the ball, he placed his right hand in his glove to control the ball once it arrived. The problem is that Ahmed either mistimed his hand placement or misread the path of the ball, leading to the ball hitting him directly on the bridge of his fingertips. Ahmed said after the game he tried to get his hand out of the way in time but wasn’t able to and the ball cut the end of his finger when it jammed.

Ahmed completed the play before having a trainer and Lovullo come out and look at his hand before he was taken out. Ahmed said that the bleeding on the finger wouldn’t stop over that short time.

Ildemaro Vargas replaced Ahmed, with Ketel Marte moving to shortstop and Vargas taking over second base.

Ahmed said the ball split the nail and cut his finger.

Ahmed, 29, is having his best year at the plate to date. Prior to Monday’s game, he had posted career-high numbers in batting average (.258), home runs (18), RBIs (80), hits (133) and OPS (.761). Known as one of the best defenders in MLB, Ahmed won a Gold Glove last season and is expected to be in the running for another in 2019.

Ahmed has one year of arbitration remaining in 2020 before becoming a free agent in 2021. His salary for this season is just over $3.6 million.

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