Chase Utley of the Dodgers has apologized to infielder Ruben Tejada of the Mets for breaking Tejada's leg in Game 2 of the NLDS the night before, per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports on Sunday. Utley's hard slide into the general area of second base in the seventh inning Saturday night, as Tejada was trying to catch a flip from Daniel Murphy and at least touch the second-base bag for a force play, caused a broken right fibula.
Utley was called out by the umpire in the moment, but umpires checking video replay ruled Tejada never touched the bag, giving Utley -- who never touched the bag either -- second base.
After the game, which the Dodgers won 5-2 to even the series 1-all, Utley was apologetic for Tejada's injury, if not for the slide itself. His tone appears to be similar in his apology to Tejada through Utley's friend and Tejada's teammate David Wright, Rosenthal reports:
#Dodgers’ Utley sent an apology to Tejada last night through a player on the #Mets that he knows well. Intent was not to injure.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 11, 2015
"In no way shape or form was I trying to hurt Ruben. I slid in hard like I have for 12 years. I feel terrible about the outcome. I've reached out to Ruben via David Wright."
Utley's apology -- what we can make of it -- addresses the force of his slide, but not the timing, which occurred just as he had reached the bag. Usually, slides occur before the runner gets to the base.
Watch the play again:
Major League Baseball discipline guru Joe Torre has said his office was reviewing the play to see if any punishment were warranted for Utley.
