Braves lose Infante to broken left hand

ATLANTA, May 21 (UPI) -- The Atlanta Braves have lost leadoff hitter Omar Infante for six to eight weeks because of a broken bone in his left hand.

The versatile infielder got hit by a 91-mile-per-hour fastball thrown by Colorado reliever Manny Corpas in the bottom of the sixth inning in Atlanta's 12-4 rout of the Rockies Wednesday.

"It's a tough loss losing him because he can play everywhere, especially center field," Braves manager Bobby Cox said on the team's Web site. "I don't know what else to say about that. It's awful."

"You don't want to lose a guy like that," said second baseman Kelly Johnson. "It's players like that that get us where we're trying to go. I just feel really, really bad for him."

Infante is batting .381 with a .429 on-base percentage in 70 at-bats.