It was only a matter of time before the New York Yankees lost Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to injury. Stanton suffered a grade-1 hamstring strain last week against the Tampa Bay Rays sliding into second base. He’s expected to miss at least three weeks of baseball, which will nearly bring him into the month of September. Stanton was playing quite well before going down, hitting .293 with three homers and a .585 slugging percentage.
Stanton was finally returning to his All-Star form, but this injury could set him back once again at 30 years old. His bodybuilder physique doesn’t do him any favors when it comes to muscle strains and injuries. Alternatively, slugger Aaron Judge also felt some “lower body tightness” on Tuesday in the first game of a two-game series against the Atlanta Braves.
Judge smashed a solo home or in the fifth inning, wincing as he rounded second base. The small glimpse of pain wasn’t thought to be anything serious, but the Yankees immediately pulled him from the game, and he spent the rest of the night in the clubhouse receiving treatment. Manager Aaron Boone failed to give any information, keeping things under wraps in hopes that Judge could play by Friday against the Boston Red Sox. To give him an extra day of healing, Boone sat Judge for the final game of the series against the Braves, which the Yankees evidently won 6-3.
Nonetheless, the offense came to play but took more of a contact hitting approach than a homer-centric one. The Yankees recorded 12 hits on the night, with two of them being home runs. Four of the six runs the Yankees scored came off contact hitting, with Aaron Hicks doubling in the fourth inning to drive in DJ LeMahieu. Gleyber Torres singled to right field, driving in Hicks shortly after. In the fifth inning, DJ singled to right, driving Clint Frazier in. Luke Voit single to center later on in the inning, with the LeMahieu scoring on an error.
This was an interesting turn of events for a team that relies on the long-ball day-in and day-out. However, the absence of a Judge and Stanton unleashed the beast.
The New York Yankees didn’t realize how much pent-up confidence Clint Frazier had:
Entering the game, Frazier wasn’t expected to have such an impact in his first appearance of the season. In his first at-bat, Frazier launched a solo home run 410 feet to left-center field.
On the night, he finished 3-for-4. Recording a homer, single, and double, he was a primary factor in the Yankees’ victory over Atlanta. With Tampa Bay smashing the Boston Red Sox, this win was a necessity. The Rays currently sit 1.5 games behind.
Frazier gave Boone a good reason to continue playing him. After sending Miguel Andujar back to the alternate training site due to a lack of offensive production, Frazier has proven he should be earning consistent reps. It is possible that he could steal some away from Brett Gardner, as Mike Tauchman is currently playing well, batting .300 on the year.