KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals outfielder Hunter Renfroe fractured his left big toe when he fouled off two pitches from New York Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón in the third inning on Monday night.
“He’s got it in the cold tub trying to take away some of the pain,” manager Matt Quatraro said after Kansas City’s 4-2 loss.
Renfroe fouled off seven pitches in all before striking out in a 12-pitch at-bat. He fouled the fourth pitch, a curveball, off the toe and fell to one knee and grimaced. He walked around in foul territory by the backstop, then stepped back into the batter’s box after about 45 seconds.
Two pitches later, Renfroe fouled another curveball off his foot and hopped away from the box. He felt the toe and got back in the box about 40 seconds later.
Quatraro said Renfroe told him he thought the first foul caused the break.
After striking out, Renfroe went to right field in the fourth inning but was removed at the start of the fifth.
“He went down in the cage and tried to move around a little bit,” Quatraro said. “When he was out there and he came back in and then they got to take his shoe off and check it out, and he said he couldn’t keep going.”
Renfroe, 32, is hitting .200 with six homers and 26 RBIs but is batting .363 with two homers and eight RBIs in his last 10 games. A veteran of nine major league seasons, he agreed in December to a $13 million, two-year contract.
Renfroe is a .237 career hitter with 183 homers and 480 RBIs for San Diego (2016-19), Toronto (2020), Boston (2021), Milwaukee (2022), the Los Angeles Angels (2023), Cincinnati (2023) and Kansas City.
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