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Phillies’ Corey Dickerson dealing with bone bruise in left foot

Team awaiting results of MRI exam to determine cause of pain in left fielder's foot.

Phillies left fielder Corey Dickerson reacts after striking out Wednesday night.
Phillies left fielder Corey Dickerson reacts after striking out Wednesday night.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Pop quiz: After Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto, which Phillies player has hit the most home runs since the trade deadline?

Corey Dickerson, come on down.

It went almost without saying, then, that the Phillies were crossing their fingers Thursday as Dickerson underwent an MRI exam to get more information about the soreness in his left foot that forced him to leave the game one night earlier.

The result: A bruised navicular bone that can’t get any worse, according to the Phillies’ medical team, but isn’t going away any time soon.

“This will likely be a pain-management issue for him,” manager Gabe Kapler said.

Dickerson wasn’t in the lineup Thursday night against the Atlanta Braves and will be reevaluated before the Phillies determine if he can play in Saturday night’s interleague series opener against the Boston Red Sox at Citizens Bank Park. In his absence, Adam Haseley started in left field and homered, while Scott Kingery played center field and Maikel Franco played third in a 9-5 victory over the Braves.

The root of Dickerson’s injury came last week in Cincinnati, when he fouled a ball off his left foot. Later in the same game, his foot gave out as he tried to push off and run to first base on a single to right field. He left that game but was able to play the following day.

X-rays Thursday were negative.

“Yeah, it stinks,” Dickerson said. “I’ve been grinding through it, especially the situation that we’re in right now trying to make a push. When I got hit in the foot in Cincinnati, it’s been pretty uncomfortable since, trying to tolerate as much as I can and it just had this weird, coming out of the box, this give-type feeling. Pretty painful. It’s something we’re just going to double-check and make sure with another test.”

While Dickerson deals with his injury, fellow left fielder Jay Bruce is not yet ready to make throws in a game. Bruce, who has a flexor strain in his left forearm/elbow, has been playing catch from 90 feet. The Phillies hope that he will be able to play defense by the final week of the season.

Extra bases

By going deep five times against the Braves, the Phillies set a franchise record for most home runs in a season at home, surpassing the 2007 total of 116. ... J.T. Realmuto became the fifth catcher in Phillies history to hit at least 25 homers in a season, joining Mike Lieberthal (31 in 1999), Benito Santiago (30 in 1996), Darren Daulton (27 in 1992) and Stan Lopata (32 in 1956). ... Third baseman Alec Bohm and left-hander Ethan Lindow are the recipients of the annual Paul Owens Award as the Phillies’ minor-league player and pitcher of the year, respectively. Bohm, the Phillies’ 2018 first-round pick and top prospect, batted .305 with 21 home runs, 80 RBIs, and an .896 on-base- plus-slugging percentage in 125 games across three levels and ended the season with double-A Reading. Lindow, a fifth-round pick in 2017, had a 2.52 earned-run average and 119 strikeouts in 110⅔ innings between low-A Lakewood and high-A Clearwater. They will be honored before Saturday night’s game. ... After a rare Friday off, the Phillies will send ace Aaron Nola (12-5, 3.70 ERA) to the mound Saturday night against Boston Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (17-6, 3.73) in the opener of a two-game interleague series.