Denver ? Colorado Rockies rookie shortstop Clint Barmes now says he was lugging a package of deer meat he got from teammate Todd Helton, not a bag of groceries, when he fell and broke his collarbone.

“I just didn’t think it was right to bring Todd Helton into something like this,” Barmes was quoted as saying in The Denver Post on Thursday, explaining why he gave a different version of the story when he first recounted the strange fall that will sideline him for at least three months.

Barmes, who leads NL rookies in most offensive categories, underwent successful surgery Tuesday to repair the break in his left collarbone. Team doctors inserted a titanium plate and nine screws to help the bone heal.

Helton said he and Barmes rode four-wheel, all-terrain vehicles at Helton’s ranch near Greeley on Sunday after the Rockies beat Cincinnati. Helton said the ATV ride had nothing to do with the injury.

“I cannot say it strongly enough – he did not get hurt riding an ATV,” Helton said.