Austin Romine feeling much better after being hit in mask with foul tip Saturday
Yankees trainer Steve Donohue checks on Yankees catcher Austin Romine after he was hit in the mask with a foul tip during the fifth inning against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
A day after absorbing a foul tip off his mask, Austin Romine walked into the Yankees’ clubhouse Sunday and said he was ready to play.
“I feel great. I feel like I could play today,’’ Romaine said before the Yankees defeated the Blue Jays, 10-2. He was not in the starting lineup and did not play, but Aaron Boone said he would have been available if needed.
Romine underwent another round of testing Sunday. “Everything checked out. We got his heart rate up this morning, he responded well, passed all the SCAT testing,’’ Boone said. “Assuming everything’s good over the next 24, 48 hours, I would expect him to be basically full-go Tuesday.’’
In the fifth inning Saturday, the Blue Jays’ Richard Urena knocked off Romine’s mask with a foul tip on a 98-mph fastball from Luis Severino. Romine, who was hit in the area of his chin, reeled backward and might have fallen if he had not been caught and steadied by plate umpire David Rackley.
Romine wasn’t sure if he had been seriously injured, saying, “You gotta take that initial time to access yourself, what’s going on. I felt all right. I felt like I got buzzed.’’
When he was asked if he saw the replay, Romine cringed and responded, “I saw it once or something like that. I don’t tend to like to watch that stuff.’’
Sanchez headed to Tampa
Gary Sanchez’s return to the lineup after two stints on the disabled list with a groin strain finally appears in sight. He’s on the verge of beginning a rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues. “He’s headed to Tampa, he’s doing great and I would expect a rehab to start probably Wednesday or Thursday,’’ Boone said. ``Hopefully [he’ll] be on the fast track at that point. But he’s doing really well. I think running really well, his conditioning’s really good.’’
As for Aaron Judge, Boone repeated what he’s been saying about his wrist fracture: “It’s all about now getting to where we get that pain out of there completely and then bat in hand and off we go.’’
Extra bases
In the last 13 games, Miguel Andujar has 17 RBIs and Giancarlo Stanton has 13 . . . In his four starts for the Yankees, J.A. Happ is 4-0 with a 2.22 ERA . . . Blue Jays starter Ryan Borucki lasted only two-thirds of an inning and threw 44 pitches.
