Yankees’ Gleyber Torres pulls himself from game after getting hit by pitch
HOUSTON — Gleyber Torres survived a 93 mph fastball to the right thumb for half an inning, but it ultimately ended his night early.
After getting drilled on the thumb by a pitch in the top of the seventh inning, Torres pulled himself from the game in the bottom of the inning as the Yankees went on to beat the Astros 7-1 on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.
X-rays came back negative on Torres’ thumb, which relieved the second baseman, though he was still experiencing some soreness after the game.
“I feel a little bit better right now,” Torres said. “I hope [Saturday] I can play.”
Torres had been flexing his right hand during his trip around the bases in the top of the inning after getting hit by Astros reliever Tayler Scott.
But when Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake visited Victor Gonzalez on the mound in the bottom of the inning, Torres walked off the field.
“I felt good after the hit-by-pitch, but I [wasn’t] able to throw the ball really well, so I don’t want to put [first baseman Anthony Rizzo] in that situation with a man on first,” Torres said. “Maybe a double-play situation, I don’t want to mess around with that. Just tried to make the best decision for the team.”
Jahmai Jones replaced Torres at second base and fielded a pair of ground balls cleanly in the next inning.
If Torres is forced to miss any time, the Yankees could use newly acquired utilityman Jon Berti or the red-hot Oswaldo Cabrera at second base.
As of Friday night, though, Torres was hoping the thumb issue would not linger.
“Every hit-by-pitch on the hand, there’s too many small things there I was worried about,” he said. “But X-ray came back negative. Just a little bit sore.”
The Yankees survived another injury scare earlier in the night when Juan Soto twisted his ankle on a base running out Aaron Judge’s inning-ending pop-up, but he remained in the game and said he would play Saturday.
