Masahiro Tanaka Struck by Ball as Yankees Take Health Hit
Written by B87FM on July 4, 2020
Saturday was the Yankees’ first official summer season exercise, a routine little bit of preparation to begin their coronavirus-shortened 2020 season. As a substitute of an bizarre observe at Yankee Stadium, the workforce witnessed a daunting incident wherein a key pitcher was hit on the pinnacle with a line drive. And later within the day, it introduced that two different gamers have been absent from observe as a result of they’d examined constructive for Covid-19.
Masahiro Tanaka, a two-time All-Star, lay immobile on the bottom after being struck with a ball off the bat of his teammate, the slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Tanaka ultimately sat up and walked off the sector with two athletic trainers by his facet. He was launched from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital on Saturday night time after being evaluated for concussion-like signs.
The Yankees additionally introduced constructive checks for star infielder D.J. LeMahieu and pitcher Luis Cessa with their permission, as league guidelines stop groups from naming gamers with out consent.
LeMahieu and Cessa stay remoted at their properties and might want to check unfavorable earlier than touring to New York to hitch the workforce, Yankees Supervisor Aaron Boone stated. LeMahieu has been asymptomatic, whereas Cessa has proven “very gentle” signs of the virus.
“We’ll see how that continues to unfold the following a number of days,” Boone stated.
Tanaka, who returned to his native Japan quickly after the season had been suspended in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, was going through a pair of Yankees energy hitters, Aaron Decide and Stanton, at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon as he threw in entrance of coaches for the primary time in months.
However Tanaka had little time to react when Stanton, who hits the ball as laborious as anybody in baseball, drilled a line drive towards the mound. The ball struck the right-handed Tanaka on the suitable facet of the pinnacle, knocking him to the bottom, the place he lay for no less than 5 minutes whereas cradling his head.
“It sucks to see one thing like that, particularly throughout one thing so simple as a sim sport,” outfielder Aaron Hicks stated in a video information convention with reporters.
After the ball hit Tanaka, Stanton instantly crouched down and put his hand on his helmet, seemingly upset that he had hit harm his teammate. With the Miami Marlins in 2014, Stanton sustained facial fractures and wanted a number of dental procedures when he was hit within the left cheek by a pitch from Mike Fiers, then with the Milwaukee Brewers.
“It’s extremely unlucky what occurred in the present day,” Boone stated. “In plenty of methods, we’re hopeful we averted one thing actually dangerous taking place.”
Tanaka, 31, is in his closing season of a seven-year, $155 million contract he signed with the Yankees earlier than the 2014 season, wherein he was chosen as an All-Star. He was additionally an All-Star in 2019, a season wherein he posted a 4.45 earned run common over 182 innings.
Tanaka had been pitching with out a so-called L display, a protecting barrier typically used throughout observe periods. However after seeing Tanaka get harm, pitcher Jordan Montgomery stated he was so shaken up that he requested one, which he had not initially deliberate on utilizing.
“It’s horrible,” Montgomery stated, including later: “I hope he’s OK. I’m considering and praying for him proper now.”
Final 12 months, the Yankees set a significant league file with 30 gamers spending time on the injured listing.
