Toronto Blue Jays Shortstop Bo Bichette Leaves Game Early With Lower Body Injury

Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette left Sunday's game against the Cleveland Guardians early due to right quad tightness, the team announced.

Bichette grounded out to second in the bottom of the fifth, coming out of the box slow and ultimately falling to 0-for-3 on the day. Santiago Espinal replaced Bichette at shortstop in the top of the sixth, at which point the Blue Jays were down 4-3.

This isn't the first time Bichette has dealt with an injury this summer, either. Bichette hit the 10-day injured list with right knee patellar tendonitis on Aug. 1, and he didn't return to the big leagues until Aug. 19.

Bichette is batting .314 with 18 home runs, 62 RBI, an .832 OPS and a 4.0 WAR in 2023. The shortstop leads the AL with 152 hits, putting him on track to claim that crown for the third consecutive year.

After making his MLB debut in 2019, Bichette developed into an All-Star by 2021, also finishing 12th in AL MVP voting that season. Bichette was not named an All-Star in 2022, but he placed 11th in AL MVP voting.

Across 507 career major league appearances, Bichette is a .301 hitter with 87 home runs, 301 RBI, 49 stolen bases, an .831 OPS and a 16.7 WAR. Bichette leads all AL shortstops in hits, home runs, doubles, RBI and runs over the last three seasons.

The Blue Jays scored two runs in the sixth to jump ahead after Bichette left Sunday afternoon's contest, only for the Guardians to put up two more of their own in the eighth.

Cleveland currently leads Toronto 6-5 in the top of the eighth inning.

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