SAN DIEGO — Minutes after beating the first-place San Diego Padres 4-1 to extend their winning streak to a season-high six games, the Los Angeles Dodgers found out that star hitter Andre Ethier has a broken bone at the end of his right pinkie.
"It stinks, honestly," said left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who came up big again for the streaking Dodgers by throwing seven strong innings.
"He's the best player in the game right now. The best hitter in the game, for sure. It's not something that we're excited about," Kershaw added. "He's going to be sorely missed in our lineup. That said, I don't even know the timetable for him to be out, but tonight we came up without him so we've got to keep going."
Ethier leads the majors with a .392 batting average and 38 RBIs, and is tied for the NL lead with 11 homers.
The left-handed Ethier said he was taking swings in the indoor batting cage when he pinched his right pinkie against his bat. He took a few swings during BP on the field and finally told hitting coach Don Mattingly that it wasn't feeling right.
Ethier said his finger bothered him playing catch. He'll be examined Sunday by a hand specialist in Los Angeles.
"It could be a couple of days, it could be longer than that," Ethier said. "I'm a little disappointed in the fact it's something this small."