Boone hopeful as Wilson leaves early
TAMPA — The Yankees have another injury with another high-leverage, lefty reliever.
Justin Wilson exited Monday’s game with tightness in his left shoulder, the team said, and is set to undergo an MRI exam on Tuesday morning to determine a diagnosis and the severity of the injury.
“The way he described it, [he] was just having a hard time getting loose out there,” manager Aaron Boone said after a 4-0 loss to the Phillies at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “We’ll see what we have in the morning. … I think there’s a chance it might not be that big a deal.”
Wilson had just thrown his 20th pitch of the seventh inning when he signaled to the dugout for trainer Steve Donohue and Boone. He appeared to be squeezing his left hand into a fist. After a brief conversation on the mound, Wilson left the game.
The 33-year-old lefty, who signed with the Yankees in February, was sitting 91-92 mph with his fastball Monday after registering at 93-95 mph in his previous appearance Friday. Wilson was pitching in his fourth game of the spring and had given up a two-run home run to Didi Gregorius earlier in the inning.
Earlier in camp, the Yankees lost their best left-handed reliever, Zack Britton, who recently underwent surgery to remove a bone chip in his elbow. Britton is expected to be out until June.
Aside from Aroldis Chapman, the Yankees do not have any other healthy lefty relievers on their 40man roster.
➤ Jameson Taillon’s scoreless spring is over, but his healthy comeback remained on track. The Yankees right-hander built up to 60 pitches, 28 of which came in a third inning he did not get out of.
Coming back from a second Tommy John surgery in 2019, Taillon gave up one run on five hits (including four singles in the third inning) but did not walk a batter and struck out five over 2 2/3 innings.
“That was definitely a long inning and I haven’t had that long of an inning in a while,” Taillon said. “More than anything, I’m healthy. It feels great to be back out there . ... I feel like my stuff has been coming along nicely.”
➤ Aaron Judge came within a few feet of hitting his first home run of the spring, but his fly ball to right field fell into a glove on the warning track.
Still, Judge isn’t sweating his lack of power (8-for-34, two doubles, no home runs) in Grapefruit League play.
“The power’s going to be there,” Judge said before the game. “That’s a strength of mine, so I like to work on other things that aren’t really a strength of mine and build them up. Just trying to be the best overall, well-rounded baseball player I can be. So the power is not really a concern of mine.”