Yankees give Anthony Rizzo hilarious birthday cake during injury troubles

Sadly, there were no birthday dingers for New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo on Monday night in Seattle, though Aaron Judge returned the favor by launching his 44th blast of the season in the top of the ninth.

Rizzo got to watch the Yankees’ first victory in six games from some pretty good seats on the bench, though he was laid up for the fourth consecutive game with a lingering back issue. According to sources (Rizzo), his back feels better this time than it did earlier in the season (when he also missed four games), but that “better” feeling hasn’t prevented the missed games from piling up to the same degree.

Now without Matt Carpenter, who suffered a foot fracture Monday, as well as Giancarlo Stanton long-term, the Yankees could really use a dose of healing magic from Rizzo’s lumbar region. Maybe the team’s birthday cake will give his body a little nudge in the right direction?

The Bomber bats woke up Monday night and posted nine runs for the second straight game without Riz, riding a solid Jameson Taillon start to a 9-4 victory. After the game, the celebratory vibes extended to a loving pun on Rizzo’s birthday cake.

“We got your back.” Hopefully, Rizzo also has a back by Tuesday.

https://twitter.com/TalkinYanks/status/1556880153845850113?s=20&t=6r8P7p8cFE_AdGL2hBvJkQ

Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo needs to be “back” soon after his birthday

Looking pretty chipper there, Riz! Your teammates love you, dude.

The last time we saw Rizzo in action came in a dispiriting loss to the same Mariners in the Luis Castillo-led finale at Yankee Stadium. He was then scratched from the lineup that opened the Cardinals series, and the rest is history.

Prior to an o-fer in the Seattle game, though, Rizzo had smacked four home runs in four consecutive games, including the come-from-behind, three-run blast in the series finale against the Royals where Clay Holmes eventually blew a (fairly important) save.

Per Aaron Boone, if Rizzo cleared his Monday night workout, he might be available for Tuesday’s game. Has anyone heard an update there?

If not, without Carpenter, it may be time to place both men on the IL, with Rizzo’s stint retroactive to Friday, while bringing multiple bats to the bigs.

This team’s main issue has been pitching regression, but in order to fully have Rizzo’s “back” while he’s gone, they could use some additional firepower, too.

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