Rougned Odor suffers sprained ankle

Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor left today's game in the fifth inning after getting his legs taken out from under him by Nomar Mazara on a ball hit to shallow right field. Odor has been diagnosed with a mild left ankle sprain after x-Rays came back negative.

This is the second day in a row the Rangers have lost a regular, with Carlos Gomez having suffered an ankle sprain in yesterday's game. The Rangers were already missing Adrian Beltre prior to this weekend's injuries, while Nomar Mazara is dealing with a sore quad and Robinson Chirinos plays through a sore hamstring.

Drew Robinson came into the game for Odor today, and as the utility infielder, he would appear to be the choice to play for the immediate future, should Odor miss only a short time. However, Robinson was expected to share time in left field with Ryan Rua while Gomez was out.

Should Odor be out for a while, this could force the Rangers to call up Jurickson Profar. Profar was not called up when the minor league season ended, with the explanation being that there were no at bats for him. The added benefit to the decision is that Profar is not earning any additional service time, which would mean he isn't eligible for free agency until after 2020, rather than after 2019 if he were called up for September. That extra year of service time would make him more attractive this offseason when the Rangers will be trying to trade him.

Of course, the Rangers could just opt to play Robinson at second base the rest of the way and leave Profar in the minors, with Will Middlebrooks getting more playing time at third base (pushing Joey Gallo to left field) while Odor is out. Still, it's one more complication in what has been a complicated season...