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Red Sox Notebook: Torn Achilles ends Kapler's season

10:16 AM EDT on Thursday, September 15, 2005

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

TORONTO -- A bizarre and season-ending injury to Gabe Kapler in the fifth inning last night led to a true baseball rarity -- use of a pinch-runner in the middle of a play.

Kapler was on base via an error by Toronto third baseman Corey Koskie when Tony Graffanino belted a home run over the left field fence. But as Kapler rounded second base, he tripped on the seam of the artificial turf and went sprawling to the basepath, in obvious pain, having ruptured his left Achilles tendon.

Graffanino, approaching second in his home run trot, slowed and stopped at second base bag, careful not to pass Kapler and be called out. As Kapler lay motionless on the turf, unable to get up without help, the Red Sox training staff and manager Terry Francona raced out to attend to him.

As play came to a standstill, Francona conferred with the umpires and after some discussion, the Sox summoned Alejandro Machado from the dugout. Machado ran to the point between second and third where Kapler remained on the ground, then broke into a home run trot, followed in short order by Graffanino.

Rule 5-10 (C) specifically allows for pinchrunners in such instances.

Kapler, unable to stand without help, was placed on a cart and driven off the field, joined by trainer Jim Rowe. He was scheduled to fly home with the club late last night and be re-evaluated today.

"When he fell," said Francona, "I thought he was going to get right up. I got to the top step (of the dugout) and I didn't go out. But the second I went out there, I knew it wasn't good."

Kapler told Francona he felt like someone had struck him with the baseball.

It can take as long as a year to recover from surgery to repair the ruptured Achilles, though some pro athletes have been able to come back in six months time.

"I have no idea," said Kapler. "I haven't had the chance to (think about the recovery). But it's going to be a while before I can help my teammates. . . . It's going to be a challenge. This whole season has been a challenge."

Kapler said it was "embarrassing" to not complete the run around the bases.

"I would have liked to," he said.

Machado remained in the game in center, making his second appearance there. An infielder, Machado had played center as a late-inning defensive substitute when the Sox pinch-hit for Kapler.

Standing with the aid of crutches, Kapler said, "I don't feel an ounce of pain -- not one tiny little bit."

That likely was the result of nerve being cut in the area.

The ball becomes dead when an umpire calls "Time." The umpire in chief shall call "Time": ... (c) When an accident incapacitates a player or an umpire; (1) If an accident to a runner is such as to prevent him from proceeding to a base to which he is entitled, as on a home run hit out of the playing field, or an award of one or more bases, a substitute runner shall be permitted to complete the play.