Cardinals’ Willson Contreras injures arm in catcher’s interference incident

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras left Tuesday’s game against the New York Mets after taking the full force of a hit to the left forearm from JD Martinez. Contreras was diagnosed with a fractured left arm and will therefore remain on the injured list for an extended period of time.

Contreras was visibly in pain as the Cardinals’ medical staff attended to his arm. To make matters worse, the play was ruled catcher’s interference, meaning Martinez was awarded first base.

Replay of the incident showed that Contreras was positioned remarkably close to Martinez. According to MLB.com’s John Denton, the team had encouraged Contreras to move closer to the plate to get more low strike calls from the umpires. Because Contreras positioned himself particularly close to the plate, he was put in danger by Martinez’s swing, which led to Tuesday’s horrific arm injury.

Iván Herrera replaced Contreras, who scored a brace in his only appearance in the game. This season, Contreras has six home runs and 12 RBI with an OPS of .931.