The Yankees dropped a game on Saturday, but the bigger loss may have been their veteran first baseman, just one week away from the start of the ALDS.
Anthony Rizzo suffered a fracture in his “fourth and fifth” fingers on his right hand, manager Aaron Boone said, after getting drilled by a slider in the seventh inning of the 9-4 loss to the Pirates.
Boone said the injury “doesn’t totally rule him out” for the playoffs, but it will be a pain tolerance issue to see if Rizzo can make it back in time for the ALDS or anything beyond that.
Anthony Rizzo was hit on the hand in Saturday’s Yankees game.
Being able to grip a bat and squeeze his glove properly may be the biggest hurdles for the 35-year-old.
“We’ll see as the days unfold here what we have,” Boone said. “I don’t want to jump to anything. We’ll see how he responds in the next several days before we kick this thing off in a week.”
Rizzo temporarily stayed in the game to run the bases after getting hit but did not come back out for the top of the eighth.
New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo (48) reacts after being hit by a pitch during the seventh inning on Saturday.
“Kind of testing it in between innings with his glove, it just didn’t quite feel right so had to get him out of there,” Boone said.
Rizzo, one of two active Yankees who have won a World Series (along with Juan Soto), has not gotten a ton of results at the plate since returning on Sept. 1 from missing two and a half months with a forearm fracture, but offers a professional at-bat.
His presence defensively at first base has been valuable, and his absence would leave a big hole there in the postseason if he were unable to return.
Oswaldo Cabrera replaced Anthony Rizzo at first base on Saturday.
Utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera replaced Rizzo at first base on Saturday and could be an option there, though Boone also mentioned rookie Ben Rice, who came up to fill in when Rizzo was sidelined earlier this season.
Rice got off to a hot start in the majors before cooling off, but hit well upon returning to Triple-A this month.
Veteran corner infielder DJ LeMahieu is also working his way back from a hip impingement, though it remains to be seen if he would be ready in time for the ALDS and he struggled offensively before landing on the IL.
For now, Boone described Rizzo as “upbeat” and hopeful that he would be OK, though the Yankees may not know for sure about that until later in the week.
New York Yankees first base Anthony Rizzo (48) is tagged out by Pittsburgh Pirates second base Jared Triolo (19) on a ground ball during the third inning when the New York Yankees played the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.
“We’ll see how the week unfolds, what his tolerance is, what’s realistic,” Boone said. “But right now, he’s just trying to have a positive frame of mind about it. [Team physician] Dr. [Chris] Ahmad said this is an injury that lends itself to … a pain tolerance thing. It’s not something that you’re in jeopardy when you play. It’s just, can you handle it?”
In the meantime, with Luis Gil getting tagged for a career-high four home runs on Saturday, the Yankees missed out on another chance to wrap up the American League’s top seed, having to wait to see if the Guardians lost on Saturday night, which would secure them home-field advantage through the ALCS.
If the Guardians won, the seeding would not be decided until the final day of the regular season.
Either way, after Game 162 on Sunday, the Yankees will be off for five days before playing again on Saturday in Game 1 of the ALDS.
Aaron Boone and the Yankees have questions to answer before they start the playoffs.
Whether Rizzo will be in the lineup that day remains very much in question.
It was only earlier this week that Boone was talking about how the Yankees were the healthiest and most whole they had been all season.
Since then, they have lost Nestor Cortes to a left elbow flexor strain and now are left holding their breath on Rizzo’s fractured fingers.
“It’d be tough, for sure [to lose him],” Austin Wells said. “But he’s a very tough guy. It’s so early, we don’t know if that’s a thing or not yet. But I know he’s really tough and he’s going to do everything he can to be out there.”
