Brandon Phillips says he’ll be OK for Tuesday’s Wild Card Game

Brandon Phillips said he was was scared he’d broken his leg when he fouled off a pitch from Charlie Morton in the fifth inning off of his left shin, but X-rays showed no fracture and the Reds second baseman is confident he’ll be ready to play in Tuesday’s Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh.

“I’m looking forward to playing Tuesday, I’m going to come to the field and get a lot of treatment and get everything going so I can help the team win on Tuesday,” Phillips said after the game.

Phillips stayed in the game even though trainer Paul Lessard and manager Dusty Baker came out to check on him after he hit the ball off of his shin. According to Phillips, he told Lessard he didn’t know if he could stay in the game, but when Baker told him he was coming out, Phillips protested and stayed in the game. He swung through the next pitch and then hit a liner to right, but had trouble running to second. That’s when Baker inserted Cesar Izturis as a pinch-runner.

The shin started swelling immediately, as Fox cameras focused on his shin and there was a visible bump where the ball hit him. Phillips said he couldn’t feel his toes and even Pirates catcher Russell Martin noticed the swelling and commented about it.

“It was scary, it looked like a baseball was coming into my skin,” Phillips said. “I love baseball, I eat baseball, I sleep baseball, everything baseball, but didn’t think baseball would be in my skin.”