Yankees' DJ LeMahieu goes on injured list with sports hernia
Manager Aaron Boone said DJ LeMahieu will need surgery after the season. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees will be without DJ LeMahieu for Tuesday’s American League wild-card game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
And if they advance to face the Rays in the Division Series, they’ll likely be without the three-time All-Star for that round of the postseason as well. The ALCS, if the Yankees get there, is not a sure thing either.
The infielder was placed on the injured list late Sunday morning with a sports hernia, Aaron Boone said before his club’s walk-off 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay at the Stadium.
"[We] just felt like in the end, he’s just too compromised right now," Boone said. "I just feel like in the end, he’s too compromised to be able to play at a level close to what we would expect out of DJ. I just don’t think that’s fair to him."
Boone said LeMahieu, who has been battling what his manager last week described as a "hip/groin thing," likely is headed for surgery in the offseason.
Though he played well in spurts, it was mostly a disappointing season for LeMahieu, who hit .268 with 10 homers and a .711 OPS in 150 games. LeMahieu, who signed a six-year, $90 million free-agent deal last offseason, hit .327 with an .893 OPS in 2019, his first season in pinstripes, and hit an MLB-best .364 with a 1.011 OPS in last season’s COVID-19-shortened 60-game season.
The decision to put LeMahieu on the IL wasn’t made until about 2 ½ hours before first pitch, with the infielder going through a light workout on the field that made clear what would have to be done.
"We made the difficult decision to IL him, so we'll see how the next week unfolds," Boone said. "And if we get to an ALCS situation, we'll see if he's potentially in play at that point, but we just won't know."
Scary stuff
Gio Urshela somehow stayed in the game Sunday after crashing full-speed into the Rays’ dugout while chasing down Austin Meadows’ foul pop to end the sixth inning.
According to Statcast, Urshela ran 126 feet from his position at shortstop to get to the ball. None of the Rays made any effort to grab Urshela and prevent a potentially dangerous situation.
Urshela said he banged up his "quad, calf and elbow." He limped back to the Yankees’ dugout after spending nearly five minutes being tended to in the Rays’ dugout.
"Feel really good, just a little sore," he said. "Could be worse. Thank God I didn’t hit my head or anything like that."
The catch was reminiscent of Derek’s Jeter’s famous headlong dive into the stands after robbing Trot Nixon of a go-ahead hit in the 12th inning of a victory over the Red Sox on July 1, 2004, at the old Stadium.
"It was scary," third baseman Rougned Odor said. "And when I saw him go back on defense, I was like, ‘Wow.’ He’s one of those guys that gives you the best that he’s got every day."
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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