Dustin Pedroia injury: Red Sox second baseman playing through torn UCL

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia suffered a full tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb on Opening Day (or possibly earlier), and has been playing with the injury all season, reports the Boston Herald's Michael Silverman.

The thumb injury happened (or was at least aggravated) when Pedroia slid headfirst into the first-base bag way back in game one against the Yankees. MRI results revealed the tear immediately, but Boston didn't feel the need to share the information right away since Pedroia didn't feel a "flesh wound" warranted missing any time.

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Doctors indicated that playing through the injury would not cause any long-term damage, so the decision was a "no-brainer" for Pedroia. Had he decided to sit out and let his thumb heal, the recovery process would have been around eight weeks, meaning he'd be back in the lineup right about now.

If the injury has had any effect on the former MVP's performance, it is impossible to find in the numbers. Pedroia is batting .332/.422/.444 with three home runs and has yet to sit out a game this year.

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