masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy banged his left shoulder today in the second inning while diving for a ball hit up the middle by the Rays’ Jake Elmore. He would have come out of the game if it hadn’t been canceled due to rain.
Hardy wanted to keep playing, but manager Buck Showalter wasn’t taking any chances.
A run scored on Elwood’s infield hit, which caused a collision between Hardy and second baseman Jonathan Schoop. Hardy seemed fine afterward while sitting at his…

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy banged his left shoulder today in the second inning while diving for a ball hit up the middle by the Rays’ Jake Elmore. He would have come out of the game if it hadn’t been canceled due to rain.

Hardy wanted to keep playing, but manager Buck Showalter wasn’t taking any chances.

A run scored on Elwood’s infield hit, which caused a collision between Hardy and second baseman Jonathan Schoop. Hardy seemed fine afterward while sitting at his locker.

J.J._Hardy-sidebar_throwing_white.jpg“Honestly, I don’t know. I haven’t seen video,” said Hardy, who’s 7-for-30 with two doubles and three RBIs. “I was kind of falling, diving at the same time just to knock that ball down and keep it in the infield and then I think Schoopy was doing the same thing. We kind of collided.

“It wasn’t bad. My glasses came down, my hat, all that stuff, but nothing was … It was no big deal.”

Asked whether his shoulder was OK, Hardy replied, “I think so. Yeah.

“It was loose. Yeah. It was definitely loose.”

Hardy will remain at the Ed Smith Stadium complex Saturday morning. He wasn’t scheduled to make the trip to Tampa.

“I saw the board. I’m not traveling already. It was up before the game,” Hardy said.

“We’ll see what it feels like tomorrow.”

Hardy was rotating his arm after the play to check the condition of his shoulder.

“He does that a lot anyway,” Showalter said. “You get to know a guy. He wanted to hit again, but he wouldn’t have continued in that game.

“I was going to look at it. You all probably had a better look than I. He didn’t even know whether it was the collision or the ground.

“I talked to him when we came in. He hadn’t looked at it either, not that it matters.”