Aaron Judge tried to make a diving catch on Albert Pujols’ single to right in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Angels on Wednesday night and ended up landing hard and perhaps jamming his right shoulder. The right fielder spent the rest of the inning stretching and tending to the arm, although he stayed in the game, grounding out twice the rest of the way.
Aaron Boone said he was hopeful Judge was fine.
“I think so,’’ the manager said when asked if Judge was OK. “He was adamant about staying in the game. We’ll check on him further and hope it’s not a big deal.”
Judge provided the Yankees’ only offense with his third-inning two-run homer. He has hit 12 homers in his past 25 games after not hitting any in his previous 13 games. The 12 homers in 25 games matched his home run total for his first 69 games.
Adam Ottavino allowed a run — scoring on his wild toss home on a comebacker — for a fourth straight outing. He said he saw Michael Hermosillo break from third and rushed his throw to the plate.
Ottavino and Boone thought his stuff was better than his previous outing in Toronto.
“At times I made some pitches, but it’s a do or don’t league, and I didn’t do it today,’’ Ottavino said. “Ultimately, for me, I believe in myself and I’ll just continue to work and hopefully great pitching is right around the corner for me.’’
Dellin Betances was placed on the 60-day injured list, opening a roster spot for the return of Giancarlo Stanton.
The Yankees were still waiting for the second opinion on his partially torn left Achilles tendon prior to the game, but if the right-hander ends up not getting surgery to repair the injury — as the original diagnosis suggested — he likely won’t be able to throw for four to six weeks, according to Dr. Steven Weinfeld, chief of foot and ankle surgery at the Mount Sinai Health System.
“You don’t want him to come back too soon and then do something to his delivery to create another injury,’’ Weinfeld said.
Though the injury occurred with a seemingly harmless slight jump on the mound as Betances celebrated an out, that’s not unusual. The same goes for symptoms not arising for a day or two, as was the case for Betances.
“A lot of partial tears can occur without a significant trauma,’’ Weinfeld said. “And you don’t feel anything for a few days.’’
Betances, who had his foot in a boot Wednesday, could get a platelet-rich plasma injection.
But Weinfeld believes once Betances is beyond the injury, he won’t have to deal with the injury going forward.
“Once it’s healed, it should be OK,’’ Weinfeld said.