HOUSTON (AP) — Second baseman Ozzie Albies was put on the 10-day injured list by the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday because of a broken right big toe.
Manager Brian Snitker didn’t give a timetable for Albies' return.
Albies was hit on his foot by a curveball from Houston rookie Spencer Arrighetti in the second inning of Atlanta’s 6-1 win on Monday night.
“Normally, when stuff like this happens, three or four innings in, it goes away,” Albies said. “This one stayed, so I was like, ‘Uh, it’s not feeling right.’ I didn’t expect it to be broken.”
Albies remained in the game and went 1 for 3 with a walk.
“I went back and watched it, and the breaking ball hit right on top of his toe,” Snitker said. “It’s a shame.”
Albies wore a walking boot Tuesday. He said he didn't realize he was injured until he took off his shoe Monday night.
“I’m sure once he got inside and the adrenaline stopped flowing and the game juices and all that, you’re just seeing him limp around and got pretty sore,” Snitker said. “I’m sure that wasn’t real comfortable out there.”
A 27-year-old three-time All-Star, Albies is hitting .317 with two home runs and 14 RBIs.
“It’s a freak injury, and there’s nothing I can do it,” Albies said. “Just makes sure I heal fast, and I’m ready to go.”
Atlanta said X-rays revealed the fracture. Snitker said he didn’t know anything was wrong until an athletic trainer said after the game he was taking Albies to have the toe examined.
“I just knew he was uncomfortable,” Snitker said. “The good thing is that it’s not a surgical thing.”
Atlanta selected the contract of infielder David Fletcher from Triple-A Gwinnett.
Luis Guillorme was in the lineup at second base and hitting eighth on Tuesday night.
“Ozzie’s a hard guy to replace,” Snitker said. “I feel good about the guys we have to fill the void until he’s back.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies limps to first base after getting hit by a pitch in the foot, allowing their second scoring run against the Houston Astros during the second inning of a baseball game Monday, April 15, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
With the bases loaded, Atlanta Braves batter Ozzie Albies, right, is hit in the foot by a pitch in front of Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz, left, allowing the Braves' second run during the second inning of a baseball game Monday, April 15, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
JERUSALEM (AP) — The head of the United Nations' atomic watchdog traveled Monday to Iran, where his agency faces increasing difficulty in monitoring the Islamic Republic's rapidly advancing nuclear program as tensions remain high in the wider Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war.
Rafael Mariano Grossi already has warned Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make “several” nuclear bombs if it chose to do so. He has acknowledged the agency can't guarantee that none of Iran's centrifuges may have been peeled away for clandestine enrichment.
Those challenges now find themselves entangled in attacks between Israel and Iran, with the city of Isfahan apparently coming under Israeli fire in recent weeks despite it being surrounded by sensitive nuclear sites. Grossi is likely to attend an Iranian nuclear conference there while on his two-day trip to Iran.
“Problems will not disappear," Grossi told an International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors' meeting in March. "They will only get worse. So, we need to address this in a serious way.”
Iranian media said Grossi arrived to Tehran would meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Monday afternoon. Grossi will travel to Isfahan on Tuesday before heading back to Vienna, where he plans to give an update to journalists there.
Tensions have grown between Iran and the IAEA since then-President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. Since then, Iran has abandoned all limits the deal put on its program and enriches uranium to 60% purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90%.
IAEA surveillance cameras have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the agency’s most experienced inspectors.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials have increasingly threatened they could pursue atomic weapons.
“For us, making the atomic bomb is easier than not building atomic bomb," said Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri, the chancellor of Tehran Shahid Beheshti University and a specialist in nuclear physics.
Iranian media quoted Aghamiri acknowledging Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had previously said making an atomic bomb is forbidden.
“But if his fatwa and viewpoint is changed, we have ability to build atomic bomb, too,” Aghamiri added.
Aghamiri's comments follow a drumroll of others by Iranian lawmakers, those in its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and a former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran suggesting Tehran could build the bomb.
Iranian diplomats for years have pointed to Khamenei’s preachings as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran wouldn’t build an atomic bomb.
“We do not need nuclear bombs. We have no intention of using a nuclear bomb,” Khamenei said in a November 2006 speech, according to a transcript from his office. “We do not claim to dominate the world, like the Americans, we do not want to dominate the world by force and need a nuclear bomb. Our nuclear bomb and explosive power is our faith.”
But such edicts aren’t written in stone. Khamenei’s predecessor, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued fatwas that revised his own earlier pronouncements after he took power following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And anyone who would follow the 85-year-old Khamenei as the country’s supreme leader could make his own fatwas revising those previously issued.
Meanwhile, tensions between Iran and Israel have hit a new high. Tehran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel after years of a shadow war between the two countries reached a climax with Israel's apparent attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria killed two Iranian generals and others.
Israel's own nuclear weapons program, widely known by experts though never acknowledged by the country, didn't deter Iran's assault. And now experts increasingly suggest Iran could pursue the bomb itself after a major attack on it.
“With a tiny open attack on Iranian soil by the U.S. and Israel, I believe Iran will conduct its first atomic test," analyst Saeed Leilaz said in April.
Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
The UN nuclear watchdog chief travels to Iran as its monitoring remains hampered
The UN nuclear watchdog chief travels to Iran as its monitoring remains hampered
FILE - International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi waits to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands at the prime minister's office in Tokyo Thursday, March 14, 2024. The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog will travel to Iran next week as Tehran's nuclear program enriches uranium a step away from weapons-grade levels and international oversight of the program remains limited, officials said Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)
