ARLINGTON, Texas — Jake Bauers looked excited sitting at his locker before his first game with the Yankees.
He was.
Just up from Triple-A, Bauers was ready, too.
Starting in left field Saturday in his Yankees debut, Bauers made an impact right away by saving a first-inning run with a running catch in the corner that equally sensational and scary.
And then it was more frightening when Bauers didn’t get up for a couple minutes with a right knee contusion that forced him out of the game, which the Yankees would lose, 2-0.
With a runner on second and two outs in the Rangers first, Adolis Garcia hit a liner to left that looked like extra bases until Bauers raced far to his right and back to make a sliding catch while crashing into the outfield wall knee first.
Down on his belly, Bauers rolled onto his back and held up his glove to show he’d make the catch, then put his right arm down and continued to lay there until help arrived.
After about two minutes, Bauers stood up and slowly walked off the field under his own power to cheers from Yankees and Rangers fans at sold-out Globe Life Park.
Bauers was replaced in the bottom of the left by Aaron Hicks.
The Yankees provided an update on Bauers’ condition in the fifth inning, calling it a contusion while adding X-rays were negative. Bauers will undergo additional testing on Sunday.
After hitting .319 with nine homers and 20 RBI in 21 Triple-A games, Bauers left Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to join the Yankees in Texas on Friday as a one-man taxi squad who could be activated if Aaron Judge’s hip injury led to an IL stint.
So far, Judge is still on the roster even though an MRI revealed a mild hip strain, but Bauers was added to the Yankees’ 26-man roster on Saturday as a replacement for outfielder Franchy Cordero, who was optioned to Triple-A after Friday’s game.
Bauers’ injury brought back memories of Dustin Fowler. The one-time Yankees prospect suffered a season-ending ruptured right patellar tendon in the first inning of…
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