Aaron Judge was hit on the left hand by a fastball but fortunately, X-rays and a CT scan showed no significant injury, providing relief to the New York Yankees and their supporters.
“Feeling better after I got some good news,” Judge said after returning to Yankee Stadium from New York–Presbyterian Hospital.
“A big relief. Just being hit there before a couple of years ago and breaking the wrist, you never know what’s going to happen. So finding out that it’s not fractured, not broken, is definitely a sigh of relief.”
Aaron Judge, who previously missed 45 games due to a broken right wrist from a pitch in 2018, was hit again, this time on the left hand.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone, en route to Yankee Stadium after his son’s graduation, learned of the incident while on a call with GM Brian Cashman during the game.
“He’s like, `Oh, Judge just got hit’ and was kind of describing he’s grimacing and whatever, trying to describe where he got hit,” Boone said.
Despite the pain, Aaron Judge gritted his teeth, flexed his hand, and managed to walk to first base after being hit. He was then examined by Yankees head athletic trainer Tim Lentych.
“I was trying to go up and in, up and in, and I guess it was too much,” Suárez said. “I did it before. He fouled it off, and I was trying to go in again and it happened to hit him.”
Judge said he was angry about getting hit and wasn’t making a move toward Suárez.
“You really don’t know where you are once you get hit like that,” Judge said. “I kind of got twisted around there a little bit.”
Aaron Judge is currently batting .302, leading all major league players with 26 home runs and 64 RBIs. The 32-year-old outfielder, a five-time All-Star, was named the 2022 AL MVP after hitting 62 home runs, surpassing Roger Maris’s AL record of 61 set in 1961.
Another notable player, Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers, fractured his left hand after being hit by a pitch from Dan Altavilla of the Kansas City Royals. He is projected to be out for six to eight weeks.
Following Aaron Judge’s hit-by-pitch incident, Yankees teammates expressed concern and mentioned that Gleyber Torres was also hit on the left hand by a pitch from Keegan Akin in the fifth inning of the game.
“I wouldn’t say I would expect anything to roll over, but I do expect that there’s going to be probably a little bit more edge, right?” outfielder Alex Verdugo said. “Our captain got hit, so just kind of got to see how it goes.”
Verdugo appeared to yell toward Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle from the dugout but said after the game “we’re boys, so I was kind of busting him up a little bit, just messing around with him.”
“None of us are too pleased about it but at the same time I don’t believe that it was intentional,” Verdugo said. “It’s just one of those things got away — a couple pitches got away from their guys. Just one of those things — you hit somebody, you kind of need — maybe if you can’t go in, don’t go in that day, so it’s just one of those things. We’ll see what happens.”
After scoring on Giancarlo Stanton’s single, Aaron Judge went to the clubhouse. He briefly returned to play center field in the top of the fourth inning but was then replaced by pinch-hitter Trent Grisham in the bottom half of the inning.
“Any time you get hit by 94, 95 up and in like that and especially in the hands where there’s so many small bones,” Judge said, “you just never know what’s going to happen and what it’s going to be.”
