MINNEAPOLIS – Aaron Judge started off his 31st birthday in style, but the party soon looked to be in danger of getting cut short.
The indispensable Yankees slugger appeared to injure his right hand or wrist on an awkward dive into third base while trying to steal in the second inning.
After he got up, he went down the dugout stairs and headed straight for the clubhouse, with trainers following him.
Because he was serving as the designated hitter on Wednesday, it was impossible to tell if Judge was staying in the game until the fourth inning, when he was able to take his next at-bat instead of being pinch-hit for.
Judge took one swing, fouling a ball off, before drawing a walk.
Judge had roped a pair of doubles in his first two at-bats, the second one coming with the bases loaded as he promptly cleared them to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead.
But Judge then tried to steal third base while Anthony Rizzo was up with two outs. He dove in head-first with the throw beating him there and appeared to jam his right hand/wrist in the process.
After going straight to the clubhouse, Judge later reemerged in the dugout, where he was still getting some attention from the training staff and could be seen frequently flexing his right hand.
In the fifth, Judge didn’t see too worse for the wear, stroking a single to left center to drive in Anthony Volpe and extend the Bombers’ lead to 11-3.
The Yankees, whose offense had been scuffling before Wednesday, are already missing Giancarlo Stanton (strained hamstring), Harrison Bader (strained oblique) and Josh Donaldson (strained hamstring) from their lineup.