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TORONTO — Left hamstring discomfort forced Daulton Varsho out of Saturday’s game against the Athletics, raising questions about the centre fielder’s availability moving forward.

In the bottom of the third inning, Varsho hit a ball off the left field wall and he rounded second in pursuit of a triple. But between second and third base, he grabbed his left hamstring before hopping to third, where he was tagged out by Athletics third baseman Max Schuemann.

Myles Straw replaced Varsho in centre field the following inning.

“It’s tough,” said manager John Schneider. “Varsh is about as well liked as there is, probably in the game. Everyone in (the clubhouse) is feeling for him for sure.”

“It sucks when you see a player go down like that.”

While the severity of the injury wasn’t immediately clear, the Blue Jays sent Varsho for imaging, so more information will be available once the results of his MRI are in.

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“It sucks,” said outfielder George Springer, a close friend of Varsho’s. “Ive been in that position before. To lose a guy like him, he’s so valuable (with) the stuff he can do. So any time you see that, your heart hurts for him, but he’ll be ok eventually.”

An absence of any duration would be costly for the Blue Jays as Varsho’s a key contributor on both sides of the ball. Not only is the 28-year-old a Gold Glove centre fielder, he’s tied with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the team lead in home runs with eight.

That’s despite the fact that Varsho missed the first month of the season recovering from surgery on his right shoulder. In games Varsho has played this season, the Blue Jays are 14-9, but they’re 15-19 on days he hasn’t taken the field. While that’s obviously not all due to Varsho, he’s clearly one of their most important players with 3.6 wins above replacement in 2023 and 5.0 WAR in 2024.

If a stint on the injured list is needed, Straw (19 starts this year), Nathan Lukes (10) and Springer (7) would all be options to start in centre. Meanwhile, the likes of Jonatan Clase and the recently recalled Alan Roden could get more opportunities in corner outfield spots should Varsho miss time.

“I’m not Daulton Varsho but i’ll do anything i meed to do to help the team,” Springer said.