Morales broke his left leg after hitting a game-ending grand slam in the 10th inning of the Los Angeles Angels' 5-1 victory against Seattle on Saturday.
Morales landed awkwardly when he jumped on home plate and twisted his left ankle. He had to be carted off the field and taken to the hospital. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list.
"It'll change the way we celebrate," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said before the extent of Morales' injury was known. "It sure was exciting, but you always wonder if it's an accident waiting to happen. This is definitely unfortunate. We've just got to wait and see what we're dealing with. We'll know more information as the night moves on."
"It's definitely not the mood we would expect in the clubhouse after a win, but when something like that happens, it's definitely disturbing," he said. "These guys all feel bad about what happened, but you've got to pick up the pieces and get ready to play tomorrow. It's a lesson for all of us."
A smiling Morales threw down his helmet a few steps from the plate, took a hop and then jumped toward the plate as teammates began to pat him on the head. Morales quickly went down and grimaced as he rolled onto his back. He lay on the ground for at least 10 minutes and waved his arms to the cheering fans as he was driven away.
"Anytime you have a walk-off hit, everybody celebrates at home plate," said starting pitcher Jered Weaver, who was icing his arm while watching the situation unfold on television. "It was just a fluke thing. You never want to see anything like that happen to a guy like that who's having a great start to the season – or anybody for that matter. Hopefully it's not as serious as we think, but we're going to have to deal with it."
"Obviously, we're going to have to change the way we go about celebrating something like that," he said.
Players who hit game-winning home runs often toss off their batting helmets as they head home, hoping their teammates won't pat them too hard on the head during wild celebrations.
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