The Yankees took the series Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, beating the Phillies 3-1 for their second straight win in Philadelphia. The story walking out of the building, though, was the guy limping down the dugout tunnel.
Cody Bellinger pulled up lame stretching a bloop single into a double in the eighth inning, and the Yankees pulled him before the bottom half of the frame with what the team later called a left hamstring injury. Max Schuemann took over in left field.
Bellinger had singled off Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan and slowed noticeably between first and second. He stayed on the bases to finish the inning and waved off trainers when he reached the dugout, but once the half-inning closed, the broadcast showed him walking back gingerly, shaking his head at manager Aaron Boone, and heading straight down the tunnel. The Yankees announced after the game that Bellinger may undergo tests on Sunday.
Before the injury, Bellinger had been the engine. His two-out RBI single in the sixth scored Austin Wells from second and snapped a 1-1 tie. He finished 2-for-4, and earlier in the game he covered substantial ground on a Bryson Stott flyout in foul territory to end a sixth-inning Phillies threat. The kind of all-around night that earned him All-Star Game MVP honors this summer.
Here’s the part that has Boone reaching for the antacids: Aaron Judge is already on the shelf with no firm return date. Bellinger is slashing .259/.350/.420 with 21 doubles, 11 homers, and 53 RBIs across 102 games while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense in left. Lose both those bats from the middle of the order and the lineup goes from prime cut to gas-station hot dog in a hurry.
The Yankees still won, and the pitching deserves the game ball. Ryan Weathers worked 5.2 innings, allowing one run on six hits while striking out seven. Paul Blackburn threw two shutout frames in relief, lowering his ERA to 1.93. David Bednar handled a 1-2-3 ninth for his 20th save. Jasson Dominguez tacked on a 420-foot home run off José Alvarado in the seventh. Over the first two games of this series, the Yankees’ staff has surrendered exactly one run to a Phillies lineup that usually swings like it’s got a personal vendetta against the baseball.
But a series win at Citizens Bank Park tastes different when your All-Star outfielder is headed for an MRI table.
The Yankees and Phillies finish the weekend set Sunday night at 7:05 p.m. Will Warren (7-4, 4.00 ERA) faces Cristopher Sánchez (12-4, 2.71 ERA). Whether Bellinger’s name appears anywhere near the lineup card is the question nobody in pinstripes wants answered yet.
Sources
- MLB.com — Cody Bellinger exits game against Phillies with injury
- Yahoo Sports — Yankees’ Cody Bellinger exits Saturday’s game vs. Phillies with apparent injury
- Yahoo Sports / Sporting News — What happened to Cody Bellinger?
- Yahoo Sports — Yankees pitching silences Phillies bats again in 3-1 victory