WASHINGTON (AP) — Jhoan Duran entered a game in a non-save situation for the first time since the Philadelphia Phillies acquired the star closer from Minnesota at the trade deadline. Four pitches later, Duran was limping and needed a ride off the field.
Duran took a comebacker off the outer part of his right ankle in the ninth inning of Philly's 6-2 win at Washington on Friday night. After the game, the Phillies said X-rays on the burly right-hander were negative. He will be evaluated further on Saturday.
“Obviously a bad spot to get hit,” Phillies star Bryce Harper said.
Pitching with a four-run lead after four days off, Duran began the ninth by facing Paul DeJong, who hit a sharp grounder to the mound. The ball deflected off Duran's ankle and into foul territory for a single.
“He ran like a shot over there to retrieve the ball and then once he got there, I think the adrenaline wore off,” manager Rob Thomson said. “The pain set in.”
Duran began limping as he approached the foul line and had trouble putting weight on his right foot. After a lengthy visit by team trainers, he took a seat in the Nationals’ bullpen cart and was driven away.
“He actually said, ‘I feel better, I think I can walk over to the dugout,’” said Thomson, who described the cart as a precaution given the long staircase that leads to the visiting clubhouse at Nationals Park. “I mean, he’s 240 pounds. I don’t want to be carrying him up the stairs.”
Duran is 4-for-4 in save opportunities with the Phillies. David Robertson relieved him and gave up a double to Luis García Jr., then retired the next three batters to prevent Duran from being charged with a run for the first time since the trade.
The 27-year-old Duran has a 1.86 ERA and 20 saves this season, and the National League East-leading Phillies need him if they want to make a deep October run.
“You just kind keep your fingers crossed there,” slugger Kyle Schwarber said, “and hope that it’s nothing super serious.”
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Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jhoan Duran throws during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr.)
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jhoan Duran gets carted off of the field during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr.)
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.
“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards' body cameras.
Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.
Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder, and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.
Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.
The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to reforms in New York's prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.
Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison's infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.
Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn't intervene.
“Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.
Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”
“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.
Even before Brooks' death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.
Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi's death in April, including two charged with murder.
There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.
“The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher's trial.
Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.
The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.
FILE - This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows body camera footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., Dec. 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General office via AP, File)
