Yankees star Aaron Judge was pulled from New York’s 4-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles early Tuesday after handling a fastball while at the plate.
Fortunately for the Yankees, Judge appears to have avoided a major injury.
Judge was batting in the third inning at Yankee Stadium when a fastball from Orioles starter Albert Suarez drilled him in the hand. Judge was shocked at that moment and hopped around a bit holding his fingers before walking towards the first.
Judge stayed in the game and took the field in the top of the fourth inning. Initially, it appeared he had avoided injury altogether.
By the time Judge was at the plate in the bottom of the inning, the Yankees took him out of the game. Trent Grisham came in to make a pinch hit for him.
The replays of the hit don’t look great. Judge appeared to take the ball directly to his left little finger at the bottom of the bat, and appeared to have difficulty squeezing his hand from athletic trainers.
The judge underwent initial tests at a local hospital on Tuesday. He confirmed after the match that he had not broken his left hand and that all tests were negative. The move to take him out of the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, was made as a precaution.
Although tests came back negative, it is unclear how long Judge could be sidelined. He said he hoped he would be able to play on Wednesday.
“It’s a big relief,” Judge said. “If you’ve been hit there a few years ago and broken your wrist, you never know what’s going to happen. When you find out it’s not broken or fractured, that’s certainly a sigh of relief…I told Boone I want to be there tomorrow, so we’ll see.”
The Yankees had a 3-0 lead over the Orioles when Judge was removed from the game. He entered Tuesday with a .299 batting average with 26 home runs and 64 RBI in 73 games this season, his ninth in the league.
Judge’s injury is the second major injury for the Yankees in recent days. They lost first baseman Anthony Rizzo for at least two months after he broke his arm in an awkward collision in their loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Despite losing Judge early, the Yankees held on and earned a two-run victory over the Orioles. After the Yanks jumped out to a 4-0 lead, Anthony Santander hit a two-run homer for the Orioles in the ninth inning, but that was as close as they got.
The Yankees have a 51-24 record, which is good for first place in the AL East. The Orioles have lost three of their last five and are 2.5 games behind the Yankees in the division.
