TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays gave Devon Travis another day off to rest his troubled knuckle Wednesday while waiting for a cortisone shot to ease the second baseman’s pain.
Travis was initially expected to return Wednesday after receiving the injection Sunday night but caution was taken when the discomfort in his right hand remained. Once again he did no activity with the hand, avoiding impacting the area and he was hoping that would do the trick.
"Swinging for sure is the biggest thing," said Travis, who first started experiencing pain last week in New York. "Being my top hand, that makes it a little better since I let go of the top hand anyway. It got to the point where I wasn’t saying anything and finally it was bothering me to the point where I felt I should go in there and get a little bit of treatment to get some help."
Travis went 8-for-28 with two doubles and three RBIs during the team’s road trip through New York and Cleveland last week, and has been among the team’s hottest hitters of late, pushing his season totals up to .300/.332/.475 with 10 homers and 39 RBIs in 69 games.
The timing of the injury is "terrible," said Travis. "The fact that I can’t even tell myself how it happened makes it even more frustrating. We’ve got 30-something games left, we’re in a pennant race and I can’t be in there to help my teammates, the coaches and this entire team. It sucks."
Travis has been doing both hot and cold therapy along with other treatments.
"It hurts, but today’s a little better than yesterday," he said. "Yesterday was better than the day before so that’s always a good thing."
Meanwhile, manager John Gibbons said outfielder Jose Bautista (sprained left knee) remains on track to be activated from the disabled list Thursday.
