KANSAS CITY -- After collecting his daily extra-base hit -- an opposite-field double in his first at-bat, giving him at least one extra-base hit in each of the five games he's played -- Will Middlebrooks saw his night cut short.
Middlebrooks came out of the game in the middle of the second inning after feeling some additional tightness in his left hamstring. The same issue had kept him out of the game Saturday at Fenway against Baltimore.
"When he got to third (after the double), he started cramping up a little," said Bobby Valentine. "He went in and thought he was doing alright. It's the same thing he had the other day."
"It's nothing serious," said Middlebrooks. "It's no big deal. It's kind of a precautionary thing, coming out of the game. Hopefully, I'll be back in there tomorrow. It was just some cramping, tightness in the hamstring and we didn't want to mess with it. We're just being safe."
Middlebrooks said he never had experienced any issues with his hamstring before last week.
The rookie said he "felt" it while legging out the double, felt it get worse when he advanced to third on a single by Marlon Byrd.
"I just tried to be honest with them," said Middlebrooks. "Of course I wanted to keep playing but we're trying to take the safe route here and that's what we did."