TAMPA — Alex Verdugo was temporarily sidelined by an errant pitch Sunday, though Aaron Boone was not worried.
The Yankees outfielder was scratched from Sunday’s lineup with a left leg contusion, a day after being hit by a pitch in a game against the Orioles.
“He’s fine,” Boone said after a 7-2 loss to the Tigers at Steinbrenner Field. “He got smoked right in the knee. I think he actually took some live [batting practice] today.
Alex Verdugo was scratched from Sunday’s Yankees game after getting hit in the leg by a pitch on Saturday. Charles Wenzelberg/NY Post
“[In the] season, he’s playing.”
In addition to taking at-bats on a back field, Verdugo also went to shag fly balls in the outfield during batting practice and seemed to be moving around without much of an issue.
Verdugo was hit in the leg in the first inning Saturday and hobbled around briefly before taking his base and remaining in the game. He went on to take two more at-bats and play five innings in left field before being pulled with the rest of the starters.
Alex Verdugo runs off the field during a Yankees exhibition game on Feb. 29, 2024. Charles Wenzelberg/NY PostVerdugo, like most veterans, is staying back during the Yankees’ two-game trip to the opposite coast of Florida, meaning Wednesday would be the earliest he will get back in a game.
The Yankees had prospect George Lombard Jr. exchange the lineup card with his dad, Tigers bench coach George Lombard, before Sunday’s game.
He then came off the bench — called up from minor league camp for the day — to play the final four innings of the game at shortstop, going 0-for-1 with a walk.
“Very cool,” Boone said. “George Sr., seeing him [in Lakeland last Saturday] and giving him the report on his kid, who’s off to such a good start in our organization. Pretty cool to go out there and do the lineup card thing. To watch your kid play against you, albeit in a spring training game — a big-league spring training game, your 18-year-old son, that’s pretty neat. Junior’s got a bright future here. I think he’s going to be really good.”
Lombard was the Yankees’ first-round pick last summer.
The Yankees made their first round of cuts on Sunday, optioning RHP Luis Gil and RHP Yoendrys Gomez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and reassigning RHP Chase Hampton, RHP Art Warren, RHP Joey Gerber, C Ben Rice and C Josh Breaux to minor league camp.
INF Jordan Groshans, who was designated for assignment Wednesday, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A.
