NEW YORK — The Yankees enter Sunday with one game separating a productive weekend from a costly one, and their most unsettled position has suddenly become the center of the tension.
New York’s 9-2 win over the Boston Red Sox in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader restored a three-game cushion for the American League’s top wild-card spot. It also pushed the season series to 6-6, turning Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. finale at Yankee Stadium into the deciding game for the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Yankees got there after a long Saturday. Boston won the opener 6-0 behind Jake Bennett, then New York answered with 13 hits in the nightcap. Ben Rice drove in three runs, including a two-run single in a five-run eighth. Paul Blackburn earned the win, Brayan Bello took the loss, and the Yankees moved to 77-59 while Boston fell to 74-62.
But the most uncomfortable moment came much earlier. Rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. caught a spike while stopping his swing against Bello in the second inning. Aaron Boone and head athletic trainer Tim Lentych checked him near the plate. Lombard stayed in, singled on the next pitch, played another inning in the field, then struggled running on a third-inning flyout and did not return for the fourth.
That exit immediately changed the Yankees’ infield. Jose Caballero moved from third base to shortstop, while Amed Rosario entered at third. It also interrupted a 23-game run in which the 21-year-old Lombard had started every game since his Aug. 4 promotion from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. New York had made a clear choice at shortstop when it sent Anthony Volpe down and handed the position to its top prospect.
The concern was sharper because the Yankees are entering September with little separation from Boston and no room to treat the final game of the series as routine. The clubs have split their first 12 meetings, so Sunday’s winner owns the season-series tiebreaker if they finish with identical records. Lombard’s status therefore became more than a one-night injury issue. It became an immediate roster question.
Initial tests ease Yankees’ biggest fear
Only after the game did the Yankees get the first indication that the awkward play might not become a major interruption to Lombard’s rookie season. He underwent imaging at New York-Presbyterian Medical Center, and Boone said the early outlook pointed toward a short-term issue rather than an extended absence.
“I think we’re still waiting to make sure and clarify, but it looks like a day to day situation,” Boone said.
The Yankees had not announced a complete imaging diagnosis as of early Sunday morning. That leaves Lombard’s availability for the Red Sox finale unresolved, even if the initial medical read reduced concern about a significant knee injury.
Boone said Lombard’s discomfort increased after he tried to continue. The manager also explained why the checked swing produced such an unusual injury.
“He was going to swing and then kind of really shut down,” Boone said. “I think caught he his spike a little bit as he was kind of putting the brakes on. He kind of tweaked it.”
A 23-game commitment now faces its first interruption
Lombard is batting .253 with a .310 on-base percentage, a .367 slugging percentage, two home runs and six RBIs. He has seven errors in 98 defensive chances at shortstop for a .929 fielding percentage.
By PinstripesNation’s calculation, the Yankees are 14-9 in Lombard’s 23 starts. New York was 63-50 after its Aug. 3 loss to St. Louis and is 77-59 entering Sunday. The number does not make Lombard responsible for that improvement, but it measures how completely the club has committed to him during a month that reshaped its infield.
His defense also appeared to be stabilizing just before the scare. Lombard had committed an error in six consecutive games, tying the franchise record for any position and becoming the first Yankees shortstop to do it since Roger Peckinpaugh in 1915. He then played cleanly in Friday’s 1-0 win over Boston.
Anthony Volpe becomes the uncomfortable part of the equation
Even a brief Lombard absence reopens a decision the Yankees appeared to have settled when they promoted their top prospect and optioned Volpe.
Volpe has worked at shortstop, second base and, most recently, third base at Triple-A. That makes him a logical call-up candidate if the Yankees decide Lombard needs an injured-list stint or want another natural shortstop available during a demanding stretch.
The alternative is to keep Caballero at short and use Rosario at third until Lombard can return. That avoids immediately reversing the roster decision that installed Lombard as the everyday shortstop.
Caballero said the first word reaching the clubhouse was encouraging. His reaction also captured why the Yankees would prefer this to remain a short absence rather than reopen the depth chart.
“It’s great news, because he’s been playing really well,” Caballero said. “We need the whole group together and healthy.”
For now, the Yankees have avoided the scenario that seemed possible when Lombard walked gingerly toward the clubhouse Saturday night. What remains is less frightening medically but more complicated competitively: whether Lombard can return immediately, whether Caballero and Rosario bridge the gap, or whether Volpe receives another opening sooner than the organization expected.
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