MLB Thursday review: New York Yankees suffer Aaron Judge blow

bet365 News Team Updated: 28 Apr 23 12:18 Published: 28 Apr 23 11:38

The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 on Thursday, with Gerrit Cole extending his record to 5-0 with a 1.11 ERA, but it was an injury to star hitter Aaron Judge that worried team manager Aaron Boone.

Judge, who appeared to hurt his wrist on Wednesday, had to leave Thursday’s game with right-hip discomfort. It’s likely to keep Judge out for the remainder of the fixtures at Globe Life Field against the Rangers.

Boone said he noticed something was off during Judge’s second plate appearance and pulled him from the game. Speaking to MLB.com, Boone said: “I was pretty firm with it. I didn’t leave much to it, I wanted to get him out of there. I didn’t want him to do something more, even if he felt like he could continue to go, I wasn’t going to mess around with that.”

The Yankees are 15-11 to start the season and, despite Cole’s brilliance at the start of the season, it appears the Bronx Bombers are treading water at present. Coupled with the excellent start by the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays, at some point the Yankees are going to have to turn performances up a level. Injuries to Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) and Judge won’t help though.

The Yankees are 13/5 to win the American League East Division.

Pirates' brilliant form continues

The Pittsburgh Pirates are ripping up the form book right now. The ‘Bucs’ are 18-8, the best record in the National League at the moment following their 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. They have won nine of their last 10 games and stand 10 games above .500 for the first time since 2015.

An early season injury to Oneil Cruz appeared to affect the Pirates’ clubhouse so much that it has spurred them on. Cruz was injured in a collision and fractured his left ankle. Cruz had surgery the same day and is expected to be out for four months.

However, something seemed to connect with the Pirates and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said that they felt a bond with Cruz immediately. Speaking to the official Pittsburgh Pirates website, he said: “We were kind of devastated. It’s a weird feeling in the clubhouse whenever one of your teammates gets injured, and you know it’s going to be serious.”

Mitch Keller, who was the starter for Thursday’s game against the Dodgers, collected a career-high 10 strikeouts as he blunted the Dodgers’ offense to grab a 3-0 winning record with an ERA of 3.53 ERA.

Despite their great start to the campaign, the Pittsburgh Pirates are still 100/1 to win the World Series.

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Hahn takes the blame

Despite being tipped to win the American League Central Division, the Chicago White Sox have made an appalling start to the season with a 7-19 record. White Sox general manager Rick Hahn has tried to deflect the heat off the manager Pedro Grifol and his bunch of talented yet confidence-hit side.

The White Sox collected their 19th loss of the season in a 14-5 defeat to the Tampa Bay Rays, in isolation no disgrace to one of the best sides in MLB at the moment. Chicago have lost eight straight games for a third time since the start of the 2022 season, including a 0-6 road trip with sweeps by the Toronto Blue Jays and the Rays.

Hahn was in bullish mood as he spoke to the official Chicago White Sox website though, saying: “Put it on me. That’s the job. It’s the absolute gig. Let’s make this real clear, it sure as heck isn’t on Pedro (Grifol) and his coaching staff.

“They are doing everything in their power to prepare, focus on what’s controllable, what’s fixable, addressing the problems as they arise. And they are really doing everything in their power to get this thing right. It’s absolutely not on the manager and the coaches.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the White Sox either as they host the Tampa Bay Rays for the next three games, followed by three games against Divisional Leaders, Minnesota Twins, who the White Sox are already eight games behind.

On the mound for Friday’s game is Lucas Giolito who has a 1-2 record with an ERA of 4.50, not the start either Giolito wanted or the White Sox. They are 8/1 to win the American League Central Division.