Alex Rodriguez suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left hand when he was hit by a Felix Hernandez slider on Tuesday night and will go on the disabled list, the Yankees announced after the 4-2 loss to the Mariners.
Even though it wasn’t a fastball at 88 mph, it looked like Rodriguez suffered a break from the moment he was hit. He was in serious pain as he rolled around on the ground, and he showed no interest in moving his wrist as he walked off the field.
Jayson Nix pinch-ran for Rodriguez. He and Eric Chavez figure to split time at third base for at least the next couple of weeks for the Yankees. While it’s good news that Rodriguez didn’t suffer a more serious fracture that would have been guaranteed to knock him out for at least 4-6 weeks, it still isn’t all that likely that he’ll be ready to go when his 15 days are up. For what it’s worth, Chavez said after the game that he missed five weeks in 2004 with a break similar to the one A-Rod suffered.
A-Rod was Hernandez’s second hit batter of the inning and third of the game. Derek Jeter was also hit in the hand by a pitch in the eighth, and while he seemed to be in considerable pain initially, he stayed in the game.
Hernandez was pulled following the A-Rod HBP, but he ended up with the win after allowing two runs in 7 1/3 innings. The second run scored after he left the game in the eighth. Lucas Luetge got out of the jam from there -- though not before he knocked down Raul Ibanez with some chin music -- and Tom Wilhelmsen closed it out for his 11th save.
Still trying to win a close game. the Yankees declined to send any messages back to the Mariners in the bottom of the eighth. One wonders if Ivan Nova will drill a batter early in Wednesday’s series finale. While it wasn’t obvious that any of the Mariners’ plunkings tonight were intentional, the fact that there were three, followed by the Ibanez dusting, could be considered worthy of retaliation.
