And That Happened: Wednesday’s scores and highlights

By Sep 6, 2012, 5:40 AM EDT
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In addition to the box scores, I also watched Bill Clinton last night. No matter what your politics, I hope we can agree that Clinton makes everyone want to listen to their “Siamese Dream” cassette and drive around in their Chevy Cavalier, waiting for their pager to blow up.  Anyway:

Nationals 9, Cubs 1: Gio Gonzalez tossed seven three-hit shutout innings and the Nats smacked six home runs. Two for Bryce Harper and one for the incandescent Adam LaRoche. There hasn’t been scoring like this in Washington since Clinton left office.

Braves 1, Rockies 0: Mike Minor took a no hitter into the seventh, but gave up a hit on his first pitch of that innings. People on Twitter blamed me for jinxing it. Whatever. I want to gamble or play games of skill with these people who believe in such sorcery.

Brewers 8, Marlins 5: The season is starting to become a blur to me. As I sit here and type this right now, I am convinced that there has been a Brewers-Marlins game end in the score 8-5 every night for the past three weeks. I won’t check it. I’m just sure of it.

Yankees 6, Rays 4: Wait, I was convinced after reading all of the tabloids yesterday that the Yankees were never going to win again. What happened? Three RBI for Russell Martin and, while it wasn’t Hiroki Kuroda’s best start, he continues to be the defacto ace of the staff in the second half.

Pirates 6, Astros 3: Brock Holt — Brock Holt! — had two RBIs. The Pirates are now one and a half games back of the Cardinals for the wild card.

Blue Jays 6, Orioles 4:  Rajai Davis homered and had three RBIs to help the Jays avoid the sweep. Now the Orioles go home for four against the Yankees and three against the Rays.

Rangers 7, Royals 6: Homers from Adrian Beltre and Michael Young and Ryan Dempster struck out eight over six innings.

Mets 6, Cardinals 2: R.A. Dickey won his 18th on his charge to 20 and the Cy Young award and Ike Davis had a three-run bomb. Adam Wainwright, in contrast, was a better hitter than pitcher yesterday. He allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings, but hit a home run.

White Sox 6, Twins 2: Alex Rios hit two homers — one a grand slam — and drove in six. And a day after the Twins erupted for 18, Jake Peavy restored order.

Tigers 7, Indians 1: But Detroit keeps pace behind homers from Cabrera and Fielder. Now the Tigers have a ten game road trip which I do not think it is hyperbole to say will determine the outcome of the season for them.

Phillies 6, Reds 2: Erik Kratz hit a three-run home run and Chase Utley hit a two-run bomb, which was more than enough for Roy Halladay, who allowed one run in seven and a third. Joey Votto returned and went 2 for 3 with a walk.

Angels 7, Athletics 1: Torii Hunter drove in three and the Angels swept Oakland, helping put themselves back in the wild card race. The result, however, is way less important than the health of Brandon McCarthy who took a liner off his head. He appears to be doing OK, thankfully.

Diamondbacks 6, Giants 2: Trevor Cahill took a no-hitter into the seventh. Chris Johnson doubled, tripled and drove in two. There was the threat of fisticuffsmanship in the eighth when John McDonald ran into Pablo Sandoval on a play at third without sliding, but cooler heads prevailed.

Padres 4, Dodgers 3: L.A. couldn’t take advantage of the San Francisco loss, thanks in part to a great Cameron Maybin play, robbing Matt Kemp of a home run.  Now the Dodgers face the Giants for three this weekend in San Francisco. Moving time, Dodgers.

Mariners 2, Red Sox 1: With this win, Seattle matches their win total from 2011 with 24 games left to play. Kevin Millwood allowed one run over six before Eric Wedge went expanded rosters bullpen crazy. Dustin Ackley hit a two run single.

Yankees star Aaron Judge headed to injured list for 2nd time this season

Associated PressJun 7, 2023, 1:44 PM EDT
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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NEW YORK — Aaron Judge is headed to the injured list for the second time this season after the New York Yankees star hurt his right toe making a spectacular catch at Dodger Stadium.

The reigning AL MVP missed his second consecutive game. He met with team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad and underwent testing that showed a bruise and a sprained ligament, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said following his team’s 3-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Boone said Judge will be placed on the IL but did not give a timeline for his return. The slugger received a platelet-rich plasma injection.

“The biggest thing now is trying to get the swelling out of there,” Boone said. “Had some improvements today, but now just see where we are in the coming weeks, or days and then a week.”

Boone said Judge’s toe is not fractured.

“I think it definitely could have been worse,” the manager said. “Hopefully it’s on the shorter side of things.”

Judge banged his right toe while making a running catch and crashing into the outfield fence during the eighth inning of a 6-3 win over the Dodgers. He sat out the 4-1 victory.

The right fielder knocked open the door of the visitors’ bullpen while making the grab on J.D. Martinez’s liner into the corner with Max Muncy on first base and nobody out.

Judge, who set an AL record with 62 home runs last year, is headed to the injured list for the eighth time since making his major league debut on Aug. 13, 2016. The 31-year-old missed 10 games this season with a strained right hip after getting injured on a headfirst slide attempting to steal third at Minnesota on April 26.

The Yankees went 4-6 while Judge was on the IL. Since returning from the hip injury, he is batting .326 with 13 of his AL-best 19 homers.

“You can’t replace that guy,” New York third baseman Josh Donaldson said. “From a leadership standpoint, from a playing standpoint. We’re just really going to have to come together as a team and grind out at-bats, play good defense, throw the ball well and hopefully keep winning ballgames until he’s back.”

New York is 30-19 with Judge in the lineup, averaging five runs per game. The Yankees are 6-7 without him, averaging 3.5 runs. He was appointed team captain after staying with the Yankees last offseason and signing a nine-year, $360 million contract as a free agent.

“I don’t like when he’s not in the lineup and it’s hurting him enough for him not to be in there,” Boone said. “It seems like he’s progressed here over the last 24 hours from a swelling standpoint, which I think is an important factor of it all is getting that swelling out of there and kind of having a better idea of what you have. So we’ll see.”

Judge did not go on the IL in either of the past two seasons. He appeared in 155 games in 2022 when he broke Roger Maris’ AL record of 61 homers set in 1961. He played 148 games in 2021.

The Yankees also said they will place left-hander Nestor Cortes on the injured list with a shoulder strain. Cortes is expected to miss at least two starts. Rookie right-hander Randy Vásquez will pitch in his place.

“Just shoulder strain is what I got,” Cortes said. “I talked to the doctors today, I got the shot. It was 15 days no throw. Hopefully it’s a little sooner, but we’re counting out 15 days.”

Cortes said the shoulder has been bothering him between starts and more so after he pitched five innings May 30 in Seattle.

“I took two days off and when I got to LA and threw that first day, I didn’t feel right. But it was first day coming back from pitching so I knew it was going to be nagging a little bit,” Cortes said. “So I waited a little bit.

“That second day in LA was when I said something because it felt like I had pitched yesterday. So I wasn’t recovering in time. I didn’t want to come in today at 3 o’clock and tell them I was hurting. I think it was the right move for me and the team.”

Cortes is 5-2 with a 5.16 ERA in 11 starts and has particularly struggled later in outings. Opponents are hitting .447 when facing him for the third time in a game.

Last year, Cortes was an All-Star and went 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts.

The Yankees also said reliever Ryan Weber has a strained ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow and is deciding whether to get surgery. The right-hander was injured Friday when he pitched two innings in Los Angeles. He is 1-0 with a 3.14 ERA in eight appearances this year.