The Yankees thumped the Royals in the Bronx on Saturday (NYY 9, KC 2), but the win, which pulled Aaron Boone's team to .500 for the season, was a costly one. Star outfielder Aaron Judge was forced to leave the game after he singled in the sixth, and the early returns aren't promising:
Aaron Judge left today's game with a left oblique injury. He will go to NewYork Presbyterian Hospital for further evaluation and an MRI.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 20, 2019
The results of that MRI will no doubt inform the road ahead, but this sounds like something that will land Judge on the injured list. As well, oblique injuries often take significant time to heel, especially for hitters who rely on rotation power. Here's when it happened:
Judge homered in addition to that single on Saturday, and he's now batting .288/.404/.521 on the season and as usual has provided plus fielding in right.
If Judge indeed does go on the IL, then he'll join 11 other Yankees there. This sums it up:
That's not a just a full lineup on the IL, that's a very good full lineup on IL -- again, assuming Judge is headed there. As has been the case pretty much all season, the goal for Boone's squad is to stay above the waterline until they start getting some guys healthy. That task became much more difficult on Saturday with the loss of their best player.
