NEW YORK — The Yankees opened a marquee three-game series against the second-ranked Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday with a 4-2 win at Yankee Stadium. But the result was marred by what happened in the third inning: Aaron Judge was hit by a 94 mph fastball on his left hand and left the game an inning later.
Suddenly, the Yankees’ grip on first place seemed loosened. The road to a World Series seemed much more fraught with pitfalls. Those fears were erased a few hours later when the judge, after going to the hospital for hand tests and returning, announced that the results of X-rays and a CT scan of the hand were negative. No fractures. Disaster averted.
“Anytime you get hit with 94, 95 like that, especially on the hand where there’s so many little bones and ligaments and stuff like that, you never know what’s going to happen or what it’s going to be like “,” said the judge. “So getting this good news is a good thing.”
Judge took the fastball from Orioles starter Albert Suarez, who had thrown another fastball at Judge moments earlier. Judge fouled that throw, but he couldn’t avoid the high and tight second. The star center fielder immediately grabbed his hand and paced toward the mound, in pain and seemingly angry before heading toward first base.
“I was definitely pissed,” Judge said. “There were a few up and down balls, but that’s part of it. They like to throw. So, part of it.”
Tensions rose again two innings later when Gleyber Torres collected a 94 mph fastball from Keegan Akin on the left hand. He stayed in the match.
“At the end of the day, we don’t take what happened lightly,” Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo said. “Obviously, (the judge), it’s a big issue for us, so none of us are very happy about it. At the same time, I don’t believe it was intentional. It was just one of those things where a few throws “
Unlike Torres, Judge eventually left after initially staying in the game. He ended up scoring on an RBI single by Giancarlo Stanton and played to center field in the fourth inning before Trent Grisham hit him in the bottom of the frame. The 2022 American League MVP then left Yankee Stadium to undergo testing at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
“I wanted to hit,” the judge said. “I was in the cage trying to swing, but I really couldn’t do it at the time. So I gave him time to warm up.”
Judge said he feared the worst, knowing he broke a bone in his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch in July 2017. The injury sidelined Judge for nearly two months. Last season, he missed nearly two months with a torn ligament in his right big toe, and the Yankees spiraled without him.
“It’s a big relief having been hit there before, a few years ago, and breaking my wrist, you never know what’s going to happen,” Judge said. “So to find out it’s not fractured or broken is a sigh of relief.”
Judge said he hoped to play Wednesday. He started 74 of the Yankees’ 75 games this season, making 55 of the starts in center field. He’s the leading AL MVP candidate despite a slow April thanks to some other-worldly production since early May. He entered Tuesday leading the majors in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, home runs and RBIs since May 1.
