Say it ain’t Sho! Ohtani goes to DL with elbow
The Yankees may be filled with Baby Bombers, but it was the 34-year-old veteran who came through in the clutch on Friday night.
Brett Gardner’s two-out, two-run home run in the eighth inning off Jacob deGrom capped a 2-for-3 performance and gave the Yankees their sixth win in the last seven games.
“He means so much to our team,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Kind of the heartbeat, what he brings every day.”
DeGrom had stifled the Yankees all night, allowing just four hits over eight innings but had trouble getting Gardner out.
“He’s as tough a pitcher as we’re gonna face all year,” Gardner said. “He’s got really, really good stuff. We were just fortunate to get to him. I think Gleyber (Torres) came through with a big hit with two outs, and I was able to see quite a few pitches off of him, especially my third atbat and quite a few changeups. He threw me another one at 1-0 and I got a good pitch to hit.”
Gardner’s home run made him the sixth Yankee to hit a go-head homer in the eighth inning or later against the Mets in Subway Series history. Aaron Hicks was the most recent to do it last season on Aug. 14.
“I’m just trying to put together good at-bats,” Gardner said. “Like I said, (deGrom’s) a guy who’s about as good as it gets. We were able to come out on top tonight and any time you’re able to do that against an opponent like that, it’s a big win for us.”
Gardner has been on a tear of late, too. After a tough start to the season in which he was batting .198 on May 4, he has been one of the Yankees’ most consistent hitters.
Since May 5, he has brought his average up to .268 by hitting .347 in that span with four home runs and 14 RBI.
“He has quality at-bats all the time and better part of a month now results have followed those quality at-bats,” Boone said. “He’s a savage for us up at the top.”
Gardner’s recent performance at the plate left Boone with the difficult decision to keep the equally hot Hicks out of the starting lineup on Friday.
Yet as Boone alluded to, Gardner is the “heartbeat” of the team and his teammates seem to feel the same way.
“He grinds to the end,” Giancarlo Stanton, who also homered, said. “That guy is fun to watch. He gets some big homers for us, big hits and brings energy.” ??his
An elbow injury to the pitching arm of two-way star Shohei Ohtani could potentially derail his remarkable debut season in Major League Baseball.
The Angels announced Friday they’ll be placing the pitcher/designated hitter on the disabled list with a Grade 2 sprain of UCL. Ohtani received platelet-rich plasma and stem-cell injections on Thursday with Dr. Steve Yoon and will be re-evaluated in three weeks.
Angels GM Billy Eppler told reporters the club is “hopeful” that Ohtani will avoid Tommy John surgery.
In a worst-case scenario where surgery is required, Ohtani would likely be out for a year. Even in a best-case scenario where Ohtani can return in July, his chances of appearing in the July 17 All-Star Game in Washington seem to be slim.
Ohtani informed the team Wednesday his elbow was stiff after having a blister drained, leading to an MRI. Ohtani left his Wednesday start after throwing 63 pitches in four innings.
Eppler indicated it was possible Ohtani could’ve been used only as a designated hitter for the time being, but the Angels don’t want to use him that way.
After coming from Japan as a free agent, the 23-year-old has taken MLB by storm. On the mound he’s 4-1 with a 3.10 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 49.1 innings. At the plate Ohtani is hitting .289 with six homers, 20 RBI and a .907 OPS in 129 plate appearances.
The sprained elbow ligament is of particular concern given that there were known issues with Ohtani’s right elbow while teams were courting him during the offseason before he chose the Angels.
According to a Yahoo Sports report from December, Ohtani — who hit 101.1 miles-per-hour with his fastball during his May 30 outing — had a Grade 1 sprain of the UCL as of Nov. 28 and received a PRP injection on Oct. 20.
Significant damage to the UCL could require Tommy John. The Grade 2 strain Ohtani currently has is more severe than the Grade 1 strain he had in autumn.
Eppler told Yahoo Sports in December: “Shohei underwent a thorough physical with MRI scans to both his elbow and his shoulder.
Those are scans we conduct whenever we sign a pitcher. Based on the readings of those MRIs, there are not signs of acute trauma in the elbow. It looks consistent with players his age. We are pleased with the results of the physical and we are very happy to have the player.”
The Angels are 36-28 after Friday’s 4-2 win in Minnesota. They sit 4.5 games back of Seattle for the AL West lead and 3.5 games behind Houston for the second wild-card spot.