PHOENIX -- Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew broke his right ankle sliding into home plate in the bottom of the fourth inning against Milwaukee on Wednesday night, moments before Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez left with a broken left collar bone.
Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said after the Brewers lost 5-2 that Drew is out for
the season and probably needs surgery. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Gomez will be gone "maybe a couple of months."
For the Diamondbacks, the loss of the man who had been their
starting shortstop since the middle of the 2006 season could be
devastating.
"We know how important Stephen is but if you have been around
the game for a while it happens," Gibson said. "It is fairly
common that you are going to lose star players. You hope it doesn't
happen to you. We now know what the Giants are feeling (with their
loss of Buster Posey). We are in a similar situation and we need to
find a way to get through it. Nothing we can do about it. We wish
him well, just hope he has a good recovery and he resumes his career
next year."
Drew was injured trying to score from second on Chris Young's base hit to left field. Drew, out on the play, grimaced in pain and signaled for help from the dugout. He was assisted from the field.
Moments later, Gomez made a brilliant catch of Ryan Roberts' short fly ball but immediately grabbed his collar bone area.
"It's a big loss for us," Roenicke said of Gomez's injury.
"If he doesn't make that catch, we probably don't win the game."
Gomez is the backup to regular center fielder Nyjer Morgan.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.