Yankees avoid disaster with Rougned Odor injury update following collision
The New York Yankees defeated the Houston Astros on Tuesday night in what fans hope will be the first of many revenge triumphs.
However, the mood was slightly dampened after the Yankees took a three-run lead in the bottom of the sixth.
DJ LeMahieu’s dribbler down the third-base line with two outs and the bases loaded forced Alex Bregman to make a rushed, low-percentage play. A throwing error on the Astros’ slugger allowed all three runs to cross the plate.
Unfortunately, the final run came at a cost.
At the time, everyone thought it would be a significant one, too. Rougned Odor, who made it to home all the way from first, collided with Astros catcher Martin Maldonado as he touched the plate.
His knee seemed to have hyperextended and he was helped off the field, unable to put weight on his leg without any assistance until he arrived in the dugout. Now, we can exhale, Yankees fans. The injury is not serious, but Odor will hit the IL.
There’s a positive injury update on Yankees second baseman Rougned Odor.
No structural damage. That’s all that matters. After the injury insanity the Yankees have experienced over the past three years, this is a win.
To be quite honest, this probably should have never happened, either. For some odd reason, the umpire never moved the bat from the area of play, and it was resting right next to home plate. That arguably prevented Odor from sliding, which would have been the safer move.
Maldonado tried to make a bang-bang play after attempting to haul in a bad throw from Yuli Gurriel, and because Odor wasn’t able to slide, he under-cut Odor at his knees, and Maldonado took a shot to the head and shoulder too.
The last thing anyone needed after a morale-boosting victory over the Astros was the possibility of losing a key clubhouse/dugout voice for the remainder of the season.
Luckily, Rougie will only hit the shelf temporarily, and with Luke Voit’s return on the horizon, the Yankees will have an immediate reinforcement on the way as DJ LeMahieu will be able to shift back to second base on a more full-time basis.