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Trevor Bauer forced to leave ALCS Game 3 because of bloody finger

chris cwik
Staff writer

Some of sports’ greatest postseason moments have involved gutty performances by athletes playing through injury. Everyone remembers Michael Jordan’s “Flu Game,” and Curt Schilling’s bloody sock start stands out as a key moment during the Boston Red Sox’s 2004 World Series run.

Cleveland Indians’ pitcher Trevor Bauer won’t be joining those two any time soon, though his teammates might. The 25-year-old was forced to leave Game 3 of the American League Championship Series after his cut finger opened up during the first inning.

Shots of Bauer’s pinky showed he was bleeding quite a bit. With two outs in the inning, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons asked umpires to take a look at Bauer’s injury. Team trainers couldn’t stop the bleeding, and Bauer was forced to leave the game. He walked two and struck out one in just two-thirds of an inning.

Despite Bauer’s early exit, the Indians’ bullpen cobbled together 8 1/3 excellent innings to pick up the 4-2 win in Game 3 of the ALCS. In doing so, they became the first team ever to win a postseason game in which no pitcher recorded more than five outs.

Prior to the start of the contest, TBS captured a shot of Bauer’s pinky. It looked pretty darn gross.

WARNING: The picture in the tweet below is nasty. If you’re squeamish about gross wounds, feel free to just skip ahead.

OK, You’ve been warned.

Hey, we tried to warn you.

So, that looks pretty painful, and maybe a bit more serious than the Indians or Bauer initially made it out to be. Everyone kind of chuckled after the news broke that Bauer had injured himself while repairing his drone, so it was easy to downplay the injury. Bauer seemed to be in on that as well, showing up to a press conference with the drone.

Trevor Bauer was forced out of Game 3 of the ALCS due to a finger injury. (Getty Images/Vaughn Ridley)
Trevor Bauer was forced out of Game 3 of the ALCS due to a finger injury. (Getty Images/Vaughn Ridley)

Following the game, Bauer seemed to have a sense of humor about the whole thing.

He also took an opportunity to “thank” the Blue Jays fans for that ovation.

Despite the tough situation, the Indians were able to overcome and now hold a 3-0 lead in the ALCS. Everything is coming up Cleveland these days.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik