Don’t panic, but... well, actually, you should probably go ahead and panic. Adam Jones came out of Friday’s Orioles game against the Yankees after only one inning due to a left hamstring strain.
There was some question about whether Jones would end up being in the starting lineup at all. It was something of a secondary story against the Orioles scoring nothing against Max Scherzer on Thursday, but Jones came out of that game in the last inning due to a little hamstring problem that they were hoping, at the time, was really just a cramp.
Leading off Friday’s game, Jones hit a little infield grounder (video here) and busted it hard down the line only to be thrown out by a step. After he crossed first base he pulled up a bit, and MASN cameras showed a replay of Jones grimacing as he walked back to the dugout.
Nolan Reimold was waiting in the on-deck circle as the top of the second inning ended and replaced Jones in the field in the bottom of the second. In the span of just that inning, Reimold committed an error on what should have been a routine line drive that led to multiple Yankees runs scoring.
It’s not really Reimold’s fault that he’s being carried as a fourth outfielder when he isn’t a center fielder, but that’s the way it goes.
If Jones is going to miss any time at all, whether it’s two days or two weeks, the Orioles will really be hard-pressed to find any kind of replacement for him on the field or in the lineup.