Now the Yankees’ backups are getting hurt.
A night after crushing a ninth-inning home run to spark a comeback win, Gio Urshela didn’t make it through Wednesday’s 10-1 loss to the Mariners, leaving after fouling a ball off his left knee in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Yankees announced X-rays were negative, but the third baseman has a left knee contusion.
“I think [he’s] OK,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I haven’t seen him yet, but they took X-rays just to be safe. It seems like a bruise. We’ll just monitor that overnight.”
Urshela fouled the pitch from Yusei Kikuchi and the ball hit off his knee before dribbling out to the mound. He fell to the dirt and was in pain, getting checked on by Boone and trainer Steve Donohue before staying in for the rest of his at-bat. He flew out to left field then was replaced by Thairo Estrada, with DJ LeMahieu moving from second to third base, to start the top of the eighth.
It was a tough night overall for Urshela, who went 0-for-3 at the plate and committed an error for the second straight game when he dropped a foul pop-up in the fifth inning, though it did not cost the Yankees.
Known for his glove, Urshela’s bat had come alive recently, making him an even more attractive option to keep starting at third base, despite Miguel Andujar’s return from the injured list with a partially torn labrum. Andujar started again at designated hitter Wednesday, going 0-for-4, and Urshela was at the hot corner for the fourth time in five games since Andujar was activated.
In 28 games this year, Urshela is batting .346. Andujar has yet to find that kind of production, hitless in his past 13 at-bats while sinking to 2-for-19 since coming back and 5-for-32 on the year.
“Bad days at the plate are going to happen, regardless of how good you feel, especially when you face good pitching like tonight,” said Andujar, who also had a pair of errors in his only game back at third. “But I’m confident in myself and the way I know I can hit.”
Boone expressed a similar confidence in Andujar, who said he’d be ready to go at third if Urshela misses any time.
“He’s struggling, you’re gonna go through this as a big leaguer, even when you’re a really good player,” Boone said. “He’ll work his way through it and it’ll be fun when he does.”
— Additional reporting by Dan Martin.