Bauers crashes into wall, hurt in 1st inning of Yanks debut

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jake Bauers didn't make it past the first inning of his New York Yankees debut, crashing headfirst into the left-field wall in a full sprint while catching Adolis García's drive and leaving with a bruised right knee.

The 27-year-old fell to the ground and held onto the ball for the final out of the inning, stranding Travis Jankowski on second base. Bauers at first was prone, face down in the left field corner, then turned over onto his back. He walked off the field accompanied by Yankees manager Aaron Boone and members of the team's athletic training staff.

New York said X-rays were negative. Aaron Hicks replaced Bauers for the bottom of the second inning.

Bauers was selected to the 40-man roster Saturday with Yankees captain Aaron Judge unavailable due to a mild hip strain that has sidelined him since Thursday's series opener.

Bauers was signed by the Yankees as a free agent during the offseason and hit .304 with nine homers, 20 RBIs and five stolen bases in 21 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

He played parts of three previous seasons with Tampa Bay (2018), Cleveland (2019, 2021) and Seattle (2021), batting .213 with 27 homers and 110 RBIs in 328 games.

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