JUDGE & (IN)JURY
FRACTURE IN WRIST WILL SIDELINE HIM 3 WEEKS
Just as the Yankees were loading up in their arms race with the Red Sox for the pennant push, they lost some significant firepower. Aaron Judge sustained a chip fracture of the right wrist and will be out at least three weeks.
Judge broke the ulnar styloid bone and while he will not need surgery, he cannot swing a bat in a game situation for three weeks, the Yankees announced after their 7-2 vic- tory over the Royals at Yankee Stadium.
“Definitely, you are looking at a guy who hits 50 home runs for our team,” center fielder Aaron Hicks said of the loss of Judge. “He’s a big part of our lineup. If we do, we got to figure out a way to win games and continue to keep pushing.”
The Yankees continued to load up on arms, targeting the division-leading Red Sox Thursday afternoon, pulling off a trade for lefty J.A. Happ. They introduced their other playoff-push weapon, lefty closer Zach Britton, before the game and he threw a perfect eighth in the win.
The Yankees gained a game on the Red Sox, who lost to the Twins. They sit 4.5 games behind Boston in the division and they loaded up on arms looking to avoid the one-game Wild Card Game.
But this is a considerable blow to the Yankees’ plans now that Judge is going to miss time as they try to make up games on the Red Sox. They have four games in Boston next week that he will miss and six more after that.
Judge was hit by a Jakob Junis’ 93-mile-per-hour fastball in the first inning. He was obviously upset and immediately in pain, but after being examined on the field, remained in the game. He took his second at-bat in the third inning, reaching on an infield single.
But, in the batting cage, hitting coach Marcus Thames noticed that Judge didn’t have strength gripping the bat.
“Just in watching him swing underneath (in the batting cages during the game), we didn’t feel the strength there that he needed,” Aaron Boone said. “At the time just didn’t want to take any more chances with it. (Judge) is as tough as they are. But we just wanted him to go and get it taken care of, get iced at least and get to the bottom of what’s going on.”
What was going on was that the Yankees were losing their most significant bat at a crucial time.
“I am concerned, obviously, any time a player has to leave the game with something,” Boone said before the diagnosis was announced. “Obviously Judge is so important.”
The 26-year-old All-Star slugger was hitting .285 with with 26 home runs and 61 RBI in 99 games this season.
Judge was not the only Yankee taken out of the game after an unfortunate collision with a baseball. Sonny Gray, who pitched five strong innings, came out after just 75 pitches because of a comebacker off the base of his thumb.
He was waiting for the Yankee Stadium X-Ray technician, who had accompanied Judge to New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Gray, who has won three consecutive starts, said he fully expects to make his next start.
“It feels OK, kind of just got me on the side of my thumb, I don’t think it’s anything too serious,” Gray said. “Once you sit down, you can kind of feel throbbing. I think they wanted to be cautious and get out of the game there and move forward.”