Yankees star Aaron Judge was pulled from New York’s 4-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles early Tuesday after he took a fastball into his hand while at the plate.
Fortunately for the Yankees, Judge appears to have avoided a major injury.
Judge was ready to bat in the third inning at Yankee Stadium when a fastball from Orioles outfielder Albert Suarez drilled him in the hand. The judge gasped at that moment, jumping slightly as he held out his fingers before walking to first place.
Judge stayed in the game and took the field in the top of the fourth inning. He initially appeared to avoid injury altogether.
By the time Judge was at the plate in the bottom of the inning, the Yankees pulled him from the game. Trent Gresham came in to hit him.
Replays don’t look great. Judge appeared to take the ball directly to his left pinky under the racket, and appeared to have difficulty applying pressure to his hand with the athletic trainers.
Al-Qadi underwent initial testing at a local hospital on Tuesday. He confirmed after the match that he had not suffered a fracture in his left hand and that all tests were negative. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the move to pull him from the game came as a precaution.
While the tests came back negative, it is unclear how long the judge may be sidelined. He said he hopes to be able to play on Wednesday.
“It’s very gratifying,” the judge said. “Just getting beat up there a couple of years ago and breaking my wrist, you never know what’s going to happen. And knowing it’s not broken, not broken, is definitely a sigh of relief… I told Boone I want to be out there tomorrow, so we’ll see.”
The Yankees took a 3-0 lead over the Orioles when Judge was pulled 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 significant injury for the Yankees in recent days. They were missing first baseman Anthony Rizzo for at least two months after he fractured his arm in an embarrassing collision during their loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Despite Judge losing early, the Yankees held on to beat the Orioles in two innings. 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 hold a 51-24 record, good for first place in the AL East. The Orioles have lost three of their past five games and trail the Yankees by 2.5 games in the division.
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