DENVER -- This trip for the 15-day disabled list cuts a little deeper for Troy Tulowitzki and the Colorado Rockies.
Just three weeks after returning from a torn thigh tendon that cost him 46 games, the Rockies' enigmatic shortstop sliced his right palm when he pounded his maple bat into the ground in frustration and it shattered. The accident occurred Friday night after he was replaced by Omar Quintanilla in the seventh inning.
"Yeah, it's tougher to take," Tulowitzki said Saturday of his return to the DL. "The other injury was baseball-related. You're out there on the field, going all out. And this one's kind of a stupid injury that I could have prevented."
Maple bats are the subject of a major league investigation because of their tendency to shatter when they break, unlike the softer ash bats, which usually just crack.
"I don't think that matters. I think ash would have done the same thing," he said.
"I looked at the cut and it looked pretty bad," added Tulowitzki, who expects to be out two weeks. "It was a scary moment."
Tulowitzki required 16 stitches, but doctors told him the shards of wood that sliced into his right hand didn't damage any tendons or nerves, he said.
Tulowitzki is hitting just .166 with three home runs and 16 RBI a year after he led the Rockies to their first World Series with a spectacular rookie season. And he was upset when manager Clint Hurdle yanked him during a double switch with the Rockies trailing Florida 15-12 in a game they went on to win, 18-17.
"I was a little bit frustrated, not at the move. If anything, I thought it was the right move," Tulowitzki said. "I came in the hallway, grabbed a bat, hit it on the ground and the bat exploded in my hand and cut open my palm running up to my index finger."
He called the injury "one of those freak, freak things. And I'm obviously sorry to my teammates because I feel like I'm letting them down more than anything, the organization. Hopefully, it's not too long before I'm out there. But it's tough to take."
Tulowitzki's teammates said they understood his competitive fire just got the best of him.
"It looks kind of stupid, but I understand why he did it. He's a competitor," Yorvit Torrealba said. "He's disappointed, especially when he knows he's better at what he's been showing."
Said Mark Redman: "Things happen in the heat of battle."
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