NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees star Aaron Judge was struck in the face by a toss from teammate Anthony Volpe as they were coming off the field after the fifth inning of Saturday’s 12-6 loss to the New York Mets.
Judge came to bat in the sixth with a small bandage that was still affixed near his right eye after the game. He had a mark right around the eye but said he was fine.
Mark Vientos lined out to Yankees second baseman Oswald Peraza to end the fifth at Citi Field, and New York players began tossing the ball around as they trotted toward the dugout as many major league teams do at the conclusion of an inning.
The ball went to Volpe, and the shortstop made a high, arcing throw in Judge’s direction as the slugger jogged in from right field. Judge, however, appeared to be looking the other way as he approached the infield and the ball hit him on the side of the face, knocking off his sunglasses.
“Yeah, I mean, confusion. I didn’t know what happened initially. I just saw kind of a, what felt like something happened,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “So yeah, of course I was concerned. Had a little cut. In the end I don’t think anything too serious, obviously. But yeah, initially, obviously very concerned.”
The sloppy Yankees were handed their sixth consecutive defeat, matching a season worst.
“It’s been a terrible week,” Boone said.
New York also dropped six straight from June 13-18, marking the first time since 2000 the club has endured two six-game losing streaks in one year.
“Just got to play better. That’s what it comes down to. Just fundamentals. Making the routine play routine,” said Judge, the Yankees’ captain. “It’s just the little things. That’s what it kind of comes down to — but every good team goes through a couple bumps in the road.
“We’ll clean some things up. We know what we need to do. We’ll take care of business.”
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