Cardinals’ Contreras fractures arm after being hit by swing

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras suffered a left arm fracture after he was struck by J.D. Martinez’s swing during the second inning of Tuesday’s game against the New York Mets.

Contreras appeared to be in an immense amount of pain and was grabbing at his arm before toppling to the ground.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said Contreras might need surgery on his arm following the incident, according to MLB.com’s John Denton.

The Cardinals catcher said he expects to miss six-to-eight weeks and hopes to be back around the All-Star break, according to Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Martinez admitted feeling terrible after hitting Contreras with his swing.

“You’re expecting to hit a ball and you hit an arm,” Martinez said, according to Tim Healey of Newsday.

“And you’re like, what was that? I hit meat. I felt I hit meat. I didn’t hit just a glove where you point back at the catcher. It was solid. Dude, I hit him good. When I got to first, I felt terrible.”

Contreras said he wasn’t going to blame Martinez for where he was standing in the batter’s box before hitting him with his bat.

“There’s always a risk in being a catcher,” he said, according to The Athletic’s Katie Woo. “The risk is always going to be there. I’m not blaming any part of my game because this happened tonight.”

The 31-year-old Contreras is one of baseball’s best players this season, slashing .274/.394/.538 with six home runs, 10 doubles, and 12 RBIs in 30 games.

His 1.7 fWAR is tied for 10th in the majors, and he ranks in the 91st percentile in caught stealing above average, according to Baseball Savant.

Iván Herrera and Pedro Pagés will catch as a tandem during Contreras’ absence.

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