Daniels’ Season Over; He Suffered Partially Collapsed Lung in Crash

The season ended Saturday for the Dodgers’ Kal Daniels when he was found to have a partially collapsed lung, one day after he crashed into an outfield wall at Candlestick Park.

Daniels will visit a lung specialist here today and then be observed by doctors at the Palo Alto Medical Clinic on an outpatient basis for a few days. He will return to Los Angeles by car because the injury has made it unsafe for him to fly for several days.

“A long as he remains quiet, and doesn’t exert himself, it should heal up fine in several weeks,” said Will Straw, a team physician for the Giants. “It’s a mild collapse, he will not require a chest tube or anything like that.”

In the third inning of Friday night’s 7-6 loss to the Giants, Daniels ran into a wall in the left-field corner while chasing a ball hit by Kevin Bass. Daniels backhanded the ball an instant before he hit the wall with his left side. He stood, threw to the infield, then crumpled.

“I could not breathe, I thought I was dying,” Daniels said. “I remember throwing the ball in, and then I don’t remember anything else until there were people standing over me. I was really scared, I didn’t know what was happening.”

Daniels, who will miss 32 games this season because of injuries, leads the Dodgers with 27 homers and 94 runs batted in. He also holds the Los Angeles franchise record for home runs in a season by a left-handed hitter.