Ketel Marte exits Diamondbacks-Rockies game after re-aggravating ankle issue

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks removed All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte from Monday’s game against the Colorado Rockies after he re-aggravated his ankle injury, the club said.

Kevin Newman entered at second base for the top of the second frame.

Marte fell down on a swing while facing Colorado right-hander Bradley Blalock in the first inning. He stayed in the game for the at-bat after a visit from the trainer and manager Torey Lovullo but hobbled to first base on a fly out.

Lovullo said after Arizona’s 5-4 victory that Marte would undergo an MRI on Tuesday as a precaution.

Marte re-entered the lineup on Monday after missing Sunday’s game with what the club called a left ankle contusion. On Monday, the D-backs announced the issue as “ankle soreness.”

“I was texting him in the morning before we all got here, and he said he was still feeling some pain but he was going to try to play,” Lovullo said.

“The pregame prep was good enough for us to feel we could ask him to do it. He continued to say he was ready to go, and then he just took the swing … It’s nothing in the knee. It’s above the ankle and the joint there.”

The injury first occurred Saturday on an awkward dive at second base by Philadelphia Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs in which he dove over the bag and into Marte’s ankle and glove on an attempted tag.

Marte left the game but said afterward he did not need X-rays, and Lovullo called him day-to-day. Marte did not take issue with the slide.

Newman filled in well for the MVP candidate with threes hits on Sunday in a 12-5 win over the Phillies. Newman recorded another two hits and scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch.

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