Tag: dj lemahieu

DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres out for Yankees with tightness issues

CLEVELAND — The Yankees were down two key regulars Wednesday for their series finale against the Guardians.

DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres were held out of the lineup because of injuries — quad tightness for LeMahieu and hip flexor tightness for Torres.

Torres said Wednesday morning he was feeling much better than Tuesday night, when he first started experiencing soreness while running the bases on a hit in the ninth inning and then was pulled in the bottom of the frame.

LeMahieu, meanwhile, began feeling tightness in his quad during Tuesday’s game, according to manager Aaron Boone, and was still feeling some lingering tightness Wednesday morning.

“Don’t want to force anything there,” Boone said. “I do think it’s a day-to-day kind of situation, but something obviously we gotta pay attention to.”

Boone said no tests were planned for LeMahieu as of Wednesday morning.


DJ LeMahiieu is out for the Yankees in the series finale against the Guardians.
Getty Images

Want to catch a game? The Yankees schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.

“We’ll see where we’re at [Thursday] with it,” Boone said. “We’ll just kind of take it day by day right now.”

With LeMahieu and Torres — the two batters Boone has used to hit leadoff this season — out, Anthony Volpe was set to bat first in the series’ rubber match.

A toe injury derailed the second half of LeMahieu’s season last year, but Boone did not believe the quad tightness had anything to do with compensating for his toe.


Gleyber Torres on the field for the Yankees on April 10, 2023.
Getty Images

“I think toe-wise he’s 100 percent,” Boone said. “I don’t think it’s related.”

Boone expected to have Torres available off the bench against the Guardians and was waiting to make a determination on LeMahieu.

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Only Yankees can flip script on how teams will treat Aaron Judge

The Yankees have seen the future and it is the opposing manager giving them the finger. Four of them. Any time that Aaron Judge has a plate appearance in a meaningful spot.

The next manager who allows Judge to beat his team short of it being a tie or one-run lead with the bases loaded in the final inning should be fired on the spot. Because the rest of the Yankees lineup is hit deficient.

Imagine a high school play with Meryl Streep showing up as the lead and students filling the rest of the cast. That is the Yankees batting order these days. Judge and the Pips — and apologies to the Pips.

That the Yankees swept a doubleheader Wednesday came down to this word — Twins. They just find a way to lose to the Yankees or the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders or whoever exactly that was who took two games on Wednesday to give Minnesota 108 losses in its last 147 games against the Yankees.

Three times from the seventh inning on over the two games, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli put up four fingers to walk Judge. And the Yanks failed to score all three times. Judge now has 14 intentional walks on the season, tied with Pete Alonso for the most in the majors. When asked if he expects this treatment to continue, Aaron Boone said, “Absolutely.”

Yankees
Aaron Judge, who will be walked more often going forward, homered in Game 1 for the Yankees.
Robert Sabo

That reflects injury and ineptitude that has left the Yankees’ attack trapped between helpless and hopeless — with a touch of hapless thrown in. Judge is having one of the great offensive seasons ever surrounded for about a month now by less protection than an umbrella in a monsoon.

Gleyber Torres, who hit third behind Judge in both games of the doubleheader, mainly had good at-bats, which included a two-run homer in the opener. But that is not enough to scare teams into pitching to Judge. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa also had good at-bats through 21 innings. He had the tying single in the 12th inning of what would be a 5-4 Yankee win in the opener. He hit a grand slam as the big blow of a 7-1 nightcap triumph blown open on Aaron Hicks’ thee-run double with two outs in the eighth.

This is the state of the Yankees these days: Oswaldo Cabrera was 0-for-20 to begin the day and hit leadoff in the opener. He ended an 0-for-25 malaise with a walk-off single in the opener, so with a .188 average, no homers and four RBIs he hit cleanup in the nightcap.

The cleanup hitter in the opener was Ronald Guzman, called up earlier in the day. He struck out his first four times then hit into a first-to-home-to-first double play with the bases loaded and no outs in the 11th (that included Judge on via intentional walk).

DJ LeMahieu (toe) and Giancarlo Stanton (foot) were not available to pinch hit, Boone said. The manager added that LeMahieu is a candidate to join an injured list that already has Andrew Benintendi, Matt Carpenter and Anthony Rizzo. Josh Donaldson was gone on paternity leave. So Judge was amid a lineup that needed name tags.

The Yankees nevertheless have won four straight (three over Minnesota). They are 9-6 in their last 15 games. In the first eight wins in that period, Judge drove in a run in each game. He homered in seven straight wins, including hitting his 55th of the season in Wednesday’s opener before drawing three walks in the nightcap. Without him, the Yankees might be, say, 2-13 or 3-12 in this stretch and hugging infamy. Instead, they still lead the Rays by five games in the AL East.

Yankees shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa (12) hits a grand slam home run during the fourth inning.
Robert Sabo

Their run prevention has remained outstanding. The Yankees used the best of their bullpen to survive Game 1 and their regeneration of Clay Holmes and Jonathan Loaisiga has been instrumental. Gerrit Cole then aced the nightcap by throwing his second-most pitches ever (118) and striking out his second most as a Yankee (14) to hold Minnesota to one run over 6 ²/₃ innings.

It will have to continue this way until the Yankees get healthy and/or more than Judge hits consistently. Because opponents are going to be very intentional in how they treat Judge and the Yankees the rest of the way. Can anyone else left in this shredded Yankees lineup make that a regrettable decision?

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Yankees far from a sure thing to win AL East title

The Yankees were rained out Tuesday, losing a likely win against their favorite opponent, the Twins, and that was about the best of the news coming out of Yankeeland.

The way things are going, for the first time the division looks to be in serious jeopardy. The Blue Jays are finally waking up, the Rays are always better than you and I think, and the Yankees, well, they are mostly licking wounds now.

Anthony Rizzo had to go on the injured list for headaches. This is one of the toughest guys in the game, so you know he is hurting.

Rizzo, who beat cancer in his youth and plays through all sorts of pain, joins many of the rest of the starting lineup in sick bay. If you are scoring at home, for the starting position players alone, there are four with foot injuries, which must be a record, plus one each with a hand and a head.

In Aaron Boone’s question-and-answer session Tuesday, nearly all the queries were about various aches and pains. Halfway through, even Boone looked a little depressed. Or less upbeat than usual, anyway.

“I think there are some hopeful signs for a number of the guys,” Boone said, hopefully.

For now though, they are a mess. The lineup consists of certain AL MVP Aaron Judge plus a couple of outstanding defensive players, struggling veterans and the injury replacements. Speaking of which, journeyman first baseman Ronald Guzman appeared in the clubhouse, up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, which was the first clear sign Rizzo will miss further time.

Aaron Boone’s Yankees are banged up. (Top to bottom): Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton are battling different health issues.
AP (2); Getty Images; N.Y. Post: Michelle Farsi

At some point you’d think Judge might get tired of carrying the club, but he seems to march on. The Yankees are 7-6 in their last 13, and Judge has an RBI in all seven wins, and a homer in six. Until Marwin Gonzalez broke a 0-for-29 slide and homered Monday, no one other than Judge had scored this month. So Judge is scoring most of their runs, and knocking them in, too. The question next to be answered: Can one man win a pennant single-handedly?

It remains a mystery why opposing managers keep pitching to Judge. The only one who was really catching on to what’s going on is Angels manager Phil Nevin. You’d think with all the extra analytics folks teams employ nowadays, an intentional walk would be obvious for Judge at this point. As one of Boone’s previous Yankees coaches until this year, Nevin may have a little extra inside info.

That Judge has only been intentionally walked 11 times in 577 plate appearances is an indictment of the league’s managers. Everyone says they are smart, but how smart is pitching to a guy with 54 home runs and leads the league in about that many categories? Of course, now that he is surrounded by replacement-level hitters, it’s hard to imagine they will.

DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton were obviously trying to play through pain, as we know what they were doing wasn’t them. Andrew Benintendi had surgery Tuesday to fix the hamate bone in his right wrist. Matt Carpenter, a godsend of the first half, has a broken foot. Both are hoping to be back if the Yankees advance in the playoffs. Unfortunately, that prospect is dimming now.

Andrew Benintendi had surgery to fix the hamate bone in his right wrist
Getty Images

In the middle of all this pain talk, Boone had to answer a question about Josh Donaldson not hustling and being thrown out turning a sure double into an out (thank you Sweeny Murti for asking the non-injury-related question that needed to be asked). Boone said he didn’t approve and talked to Donaldson but added that he generally isn’t worried about Donaldson because he knows he’s a gamer.

Donaldson appeared to be chuckling after his predicament at second, and that wasn’t a great look either. However, the situation they are in is no joke now.

The Yankees, once overpowering their opponents, are averaging less than three runs a game over their last 29 games. During a time when their pitching has been quite good, especially their starting pitching, they are 20-31 in their last 51.

They have a chance to feel a bit better with the doubleheader scheduled for Wednesday against the Twins, as they beat Minnesota in their sleep. They are 112-39 against the Twins since 2002.

But, if opposing managers start walking Judge, you wonder where the runs are going to come from. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino are mostly defensive specialists (Trevino should win the Gold Glove, and he’s actually hit much better than expected), Donaldson and Aaron Hicks are hitting well below career norms, Gleyber Torres is in a hellacious slump and Oswaldo Cabrera, for all his defensive versatility and press clippings, is hitting .190.

The injuries have decimated the Yankees to the point where the division is in real jeopardy after they looked historically good early. Fangraphs still gives the Yankees an 85 percent chance to win the AL East. Nobody from that site must have sat in on Tuesday’s interview session. Or seen any of their recent games.

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Yankees drop ugly 11-inning loss to A’s as five-game win streak ends

OAKLAND, Calif. — After the Yankees were two outs away from a sixth straight win, they blew a lead in the 10th and lost to the hapless A’s, 3-2, in the 11th Saturday night.

The A’s scored the winning run when DJ LeMahieu made a throwing error on what should have been an inning-ending double play on Chad Pinder’s ground ball.

LeMahieu’s wild throw after the feed from Isiah Kiner-Falefa got by Anthony Rizzo at first and allowed automatic runner Shea Langeliers to score with one out in the 11th.

Trivino walked Seth Brown to lead off the 11th and was checked on by the trainers.

Stephen Vogt (right) celebrates with Chad Pinder after belting the game-tying homer in the 10th inning of the Yankees’ 3-2, 11-inning loss to the A’s.
AP

The Yankees had their chances earlier, as Ron Marinaccio allowed a game-tying, two-run homer to pinch-hitter Stephen Vogt with one out in the bottom of the 10th, which wasted a two-run rally in the top of the inning, as well as a terrific outing from Domingo German, who tossed 7 ²/₃ shutout innings.

Since second-place Tampa Bay also lost on Saturday, the Yankees’ lead in the AL East remained at 8 ¹/₂ games.

Perhaps worst of all, the Yankees got just one hit in the 11 innings.

They were able to take advantage of some wild pitching by A.J. Puk to score a pair of runs in the top of the 10th. Andrew Benintendi opened the inning by bunting right back to Puk, who threw out automatic runner Kyle Higashioka at third. Aaron Judge struck out, and Benintendi stole second. Josh Donaldson was walked intentionally, and Puk drilled Rizzo high on the shoulder to load the bases.

A clearly rattled Puk then nearly threw wildly with LeMahieu at the plate, but acrobatic catcher Sean Murphy saved him. But Murphy couldn’t bail Puk out later in the at-bat as a wild pitch got away from him to allow Benintendi to put the Yankees ahead.

Murphy’s flip to Puk at the plate was errant, and Donaldson came around to score a second run on the error.

The 10th-inning dramatics came after German and Oakland right-hander Adam Oller both took no-hitters into the sixth inning.

Anthony Rizzo gets hit by a pitch in the 10th inning of the Yankees’ loss.
USA TODAY Sports

In front of a crowd of 36,529 at Oakland Coliseum — many of the fans there for a postgame drone show — the Yankees didn’t get a hit until Oswaldo Cabrera doubled to right-center to open the top of the sixth.

He was then thrown out trying to steal third, when Oller stepped off the mound and fired to third.

Oller allowed just one hit in his eight shutout innings and faced the minimum number of batters.

After Judge made a nice play in center on a long fly ball by Cal Stevenson in the bottom of the sixth, German gave up an infield hit on a comebacker by Nick Allen and threw the ball away, allowing Allen to get to second, but German retired the next two batters.

Earlier in the game, Cabrera was robbed of an extra-base hit in right by Chad Pinder, who crashed into the wall as he made the catch.

Oakland’s only base runner until the sixth came when German hit Jonah Bride with a pitch to lead off the bottom of the third.

The Yankees barely even hit any balls hard off of Oller, who entered the game with an ERA of 6.41, but had pitched better in his previous three starts. Yet he certainly didn’t seem like a likely candidate to shut down the Yankees.

German was even more dominant, needing just 48 pitches to get through five innings.

He allowed a one-out double to Stevenson in the eighth and Stevenson moved to third on a grounder to second by Allen before being replaced by Jonathan Loaisiga, who got Tony Kemp to ground out to end the inning.

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