Blue Jays pitcher Shoemaker out for season with torn ACL
OAKLAND, CALIF.» Matt Shoemaker had to choke back tears after tests revealed a torn ACL in his left knee Sunday, cutting short yet another promising season for Toronto’s oft-injured right-hander.
Standing in the clubhouse following a 5-4 win over the Athletics on Sunday, Shoemaker’s voice quivered and he paused a few times while discussing the injury. At one point he was asked if he needed time to compose himself but declined.
“You can’t put words to it,” Shoemaker said. “Extremely frustrated but at the same time I just have to stay positive. I know I’m really upset right now, I just got the news. But stay positive, keep fighting, get this thing right and be back when it’s ready to go.”
Shoemaker was hurt at the end of a rundown Saturday, and Toronto announced the diagnosis and placed him on the 10-day injured list a day later. He will undergo surgery but no date has been set.
The 32-year-old is 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA in five starts after signing a $3.5 million, one-year deal with Toronto in December. He was limited to seven starts last year with the Angels because of a strained right forearm. In 2016, he sustained a skull fracture when he was hit in the head by a line drive, and he’s had lingering forearm trouble for a while.
“He was one of the best pitchers in baseball for the first month,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “I feel bad for him. I feel bad for all of us, worse for him because he was doing so great.”
Shoemaker’s latest injury occurred while he was chasing Oakland’s Matt Chapman in the third inning. Shoemaker applied the tag and spun around to avoid contact. The injury happened as he twirled.
Shoemaker hopped around before falling to the ground as a team trainer rushed out. He was down for several moments and sat with his head in his hands before being helped to his feet and off the field.
“I was really hoping for a knee sprain,” Shoemaker said. “I knew what I felt. It didn’t feel right, but I was just hoping for a knee sprain.”
Yankees’ strained Judge oblique. sits with
Aaron Judge won’t be back with the Yankees anytime soon, a further blow to an injury-decimated team with a mediocre record 3½ weeks into the season.
New York’s biggest offensive threat and the heart of its clubhouse went on the injured list for the third time in four seasons Sunday, a day after straining the oblique muscle on the left side of his abdomen while hitting a sixthinning single against Kansas City.
“Especially tough times like this, when a lot of guys are beat up, I wanted to be out there in the trenches with the guys every single day,” Judge said after Sunday’s 7-6, 10-inning win over Kansas City .
Manager Aaron Boone called it a “pretty significant strain in there” and would not estimate a return date. Judge broke his right wrist when hit by a pitch by the Royals’ Jakob Junis last July 26, and while Boone originally projected a return in three weeks, Judge did not rejoin the Yankees until Sept. 14.
“There’s no need to put a time, a clock on it, because what happened — just like what I did with the wrist last year,” Judge said. “So no need to go down that road again.”