NEW YORK _ Just as the Yankees could start thinking about the light at the end of the tunnel, Aaron Judge walked off the field in the sixth inning of Saturday's game with what the team said was a left oblique injury.
He was taken to the hospital for further tests and evaluation.
Judge winced after making a swing on his ground ball up the first-base line. He jogged slowly to first and was immediately met at first by Yankees' head trainer Steve Donohue.
The Yankees have put a major league-leading 13 players on the injured list already this season. They currently have 12 on the IL and are eagerly anticipating the return of catcher Gary Sanchez sometime this week.
Judge had hit his fifth home run of the season in the first inning. He's been the engine powering the offense through this streak of injuries.
With Miguel Andujar (labrum), Giancarlo Stanton (strained biceps), Aaron Hicks (lower back), Didi Gregorius (Tommy John rehab) all out, much of the offense the Yankees were planning on is missing. That group drove in nearly half the runs the Yankees scored last season, a combined 410 RBI, just one shy of 50 percent, and hit 51 percent of the home runs the Bombers hit (137).
