Manny Machado Leaves Game vs. Pirates with Wrist Injury

The Baltimore Orioles' hopes in the crowded American League East this season took a hit when star third baseman Manny Machado left Wednesday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a wrist injury.

The Orioles officially announced Machado has soreness in his left wrist.

Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun reported Machado's wrist was gashed by Andrew McCutchen's spike, adding that he had an X-ray and looks to have an MRI on Thursday.

Since making his Major League Baseball debut as a 19-year-old in 2012, Machado has been the beating heart of Baltimore's lineup. He's steadily developed into one of the best all-around players in the sport.

From 2012 to 2015, Machado ranked seventh among all qualifying third basemen with a 16.6 WAR mark, had an MLB-best 58.7 defensive value and tied for 13th with 68 home runs despite being limited to 82 games in 2014 because of knee injuries, per FanGraphs.

Machado continued to grow as a hitter in 2016, setting a career high with 37 home runs and owning a career-best .876 OPS. He's off to a slow start this season, hitting .214/.290/.432 entering play on Wednesday.

It's impossible for the Orioles to replace everything that Machado brings to the table. Ruben Tejada replaced Machado at third base on Wednesday.

The Orioles can tread water for a short amount of time without Machado, but his return will be critical if Baltimore wants to challenge the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees atop the division this season.