Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Marco Scutaro is likely done for the season with a plantar fascia tear in his right heel.
The injury was revealed during an MRI taken Monday after Scutaro left in the sixth inning of Sunday's 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay when he felt something pop in his heel.
General manager J.P. Ricciardi said the injury isn't career-threatening and shouldn't need surgery to fix, although it will "probably" end what has been a career year for the 33-year-old.
Manager Cito Gaston, speaking before results of the MRI were known, had the same assessment.
"I'm pretty sure that he's probably not going to play the rest of the season," said Gaston. "He's the type of kid that wants to play all the time."
Scutaro has played through the injury for about two months, which has hampered his running. Still, playing every day for the first time, he posted career-highs in batting average (.282), home runs (12), doubles (35) and walks (90), and matched a personal best with 60 RBIs.
"He was hurt but not hurt bad enough not to play," Gaston said of the decision to keep Scutaro in the lineup. "He wanted to play."
Scutaro will be a free agent after the season and the Blue Jays have an interest in bringing him back.
Meanwhile, reliever Scott Downs, who injured his right hamstring last Wednesday in New York, is day-to-day but with the end of the season looming, Gaston said it's possible he will be shut down too.
There was better news for lefty Brian Tallet and his foot injury.
He will make his scheduled start Tuesday against visiting Baltimore, something that was in doubt after he was struck on the foot by a grounder off the bat second baseman Robinson Cano last Wednesday.
"He's 90, 95 per cent, somewhere in there," said Gaston. "He threw (Sunday), said he felt pretty good. Well run him out there and see how long he can go."
