New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo left their loss to the Boston Red Sox early on Sunday night after an awkward collision while running the bases.
Rizzo hit a ground ball in the seventh inning of the 9-3 loss, and immediately bolted toward first base. As he reached the bag, he collided with Red Sox reliever Brennan Bernardino and landed awkwardly on his right wrist — which he grabbed immediately as he rolled into the grass.
Rizzo was safe, as Bernardino dropped the toss right before the contact, but he was quickly pulled from the game. He was replaced by pinch-runner Oswaldo Cabrera.
Rizzo is set to undergo further testing on Monday. It’s unclear how severe his injury is, or how long he’ll be sidelined.
“We’ll see,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The initial imaging … was negative, but he’s in some pain in that kind of lower arm in a number of places. Obviously he’ll get a lot of tests tomorrow and see what we’re dealing with.”
Rizzo, 34, holds a .223 batting average and has eight home runs and 28 RBI this season, his third full year with the Yankees. The injury he went down with on Sunday was reminiscent of one he sustained last year when he collided with Fernando Tatis Jr. at first base, which ended up ending his season early with posts-concussion syndrome.
Though the Yankees were down by just a run at the time when Rizzo left the game, the Red Sox flew ahead to grab the six-run win at Fenway Park on Sunday night thanks in part to Connor Wong’s two-run triple in the bottom of the seventh. Boston had an incredible nine stolen bases in the win, which was the most anywhere in the league in a single game this season and the most the Yankees have allowed since 1915.
The Yankees, who have now lost three of their last four, hold a 50-24 record and lead the AL East. They’ll kick off a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles next on Tuesday.
