PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Rhys Hoskins will miss the rest of the season with an abdominal tear that requires surgery, the Philadelphia Phillies slugger announced Thursday.
Hoskins leads the Phillies with 27 homers and 71 RBIs, and the news is a major blow to the team's playoff hopes. Philadelphia entered Thursday trailing first-place Atlanta by five games in the NL East.
Hoskins had been playing through an abdominal injury all season, but he aggravated it when he dove awkwardly for a ball at Washington on Aug. 5.
He spent two weeks on the injured list, returned to the lineup Sunday and hit two homers in a win at San Diego. He didn't start again until Wednesday's loss to Tampa Bay, during which he made a few plays in the field that further exacerbated the injury.
Hoskins' final at-bat this season was a game-tying homer in the eighth inning against the Rays.
He said Thursday he can't move laterally at first base or run well enough to continue playing.
“It stinks,” he said. “The magnitude with where we are as a team and the time of year, as a player you want to be out there to help your team as much as you can. There’s been a lot of effort the last couple weeks to make that an option, but unfortunately sometimes the body just doesn’t respond.”
The Phillies placed Hoskins back on the 10-day injured list. Hoskins said he will likely have surgery within the next week and that the recovery period is 6 to 8 weeks.
Philadelphia has 36 games remaining, although only six of those are against teams with winning records — including a three-game set at Atlanta in late September.
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