Tony Saunders’ comeback from a broken left arm was derailed Thursday night when the arm snapped again while he was pitching.
“From a medical standpoint, him getting to pitch again would not be optimistic,” Tampa Bay Devil Rays spokesman Rick Vaughn said. “His chances would not be optimistic.”
Saunders, 26, originally broke his left humerus–the bone from shoulder to elbow–while throwing a 3-2 pitch on May 26, 1999, in a game against the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field.
Saunders, making his fifth rehabilitation start and third for Tampa Bay’s Class A affiliate in St. Petersburg, crumpled to the ground with a similar injury after throwing a wild pitch in the third inning Thursday against Clearwater.
He was in obvious pain and his screams could be heard throughout the stadium as trainers rushed to the mound to help him.
Twins sign Guzman: Cristian Guzman, the 22-year-old shortstop who didn’t pick up a baseball until he was 16, signed a four-year extension with the Minnesota Twins.
Guzman is batting .263 with 20 doubles, a club-record 19 triples, eight homers and 47 runs batted in in 124 games.
