Brewers pitcher Will Smith injures knee while pulling off shoe

File this under strange and unfortunate baseball injuries—Brewers reliever Will Smith tore the LCL in his right knee on Friday while pulling off his cleats after a game.

File this under strange and unfortunate baseball injuries—Brewers reliever Will Smith tore the LCL in his right knee on Friday while pulling off his cleats after a game.

The lefthander will miss a “significant” amount of time, according to manager Craig Counsell, and could face surgery.

“I pulled hard [on the shoe] and it stayed on,” he told reporters. “My knee just went up and popped. Everyone tells you there is nothing you can do about it, but you still feel like you are letting people down.”

• 2016 MLB season preview: Milwaukee Brewers

In 76 appearances for Milwaukee last season, Smith went 7–2 with a 2.70 ERA. He has allowed just two hits in seven innings this spring, with five strikeouts.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

– Kenny Ducey