The Yankees are having a great season despite a spate of injuries, and Saturday was just another chapter in that book. The Bronx Bombers swept a doubleheader from their rival Boston Red Sox and lost another player to injury in the process. Edwin Encarnacion, acquired from the Seattle Mariners in June, broke his wrist when he was hit with a pitch.
Doctors expect Encarnacion, who is tied for second in the American League with 30 home runs, to miss three-to-five weeks.
Regarding Edwin Encarnacion’s wrist fracture (and understanding every player and every injury is different), Aaron Judge had a wrist fracture and missed 48 games last season. The Yanks have 53 games left.
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) August 3, 2019
An unfortunate pitch
The Yankees led 9-2 in the eighth inning of the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader when Red Sox reliever Josh Smith delivered a 2-2 pitch to Encarnacion. It ran in toward the bat, and Encarnacion couldn’t pull back his hands in time.
He hopped around in pain and subsequently left the game. Afterward, Yankees manager Aaron Boone initially said X-rays were negative, but the team later announced Encarnacion had a broken wrist. He said he hoped to be back on the low end of the three-to-five week estimate.
Edwin Encarnacion fractured his wrist today so his Yankee teammates put a cast on the stuffed parrot in the dugout 😭 pic.twitter.com/azWTS6LXiK
— Kyle ⚾️ (@KyleNYY) August 3, 2019
Winning anyway
Encarnacion is the 24th Yankees player to hit the injured list this season, with 28 total stints on the IL. That, of course, is nearly an entire roster’s worth of injured players.
After Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader, outfielder Aaron Hicks also said he had injured his elbow making a throw and could miss some time. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Luis Severino, among many others, also have suffered significant injuries this season.
And yet, the Yankees are 71-39, a half-game behind the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. They have an 8-game lead over Tampa Bay in the AL East and are among the World Series favorites even with so many players missing.
Even if the injuries finally do take a toll — and at this point, it doesn’t look like they will — New York has quite a cushion to reach the playoffs and get healthy in the process.
On Aug. 3, here’s a refresh of the current Yankees IL:
Jacoby Ellsbury
Ben Heller
Jordan Montgomery
Greg Bird
Miguel Andujar
Jake Barrett
Luis Severino
Dellin Betances
Jonathan Loaisiga
Giancarlo Stanton
Gary Sanchez
Luke Voit
CC Sabathia
David Hale
Edwin Encarnacion— Coley Harvey (@ColeyHarvey) August 3, 2019
