NEW YORK — The Yankees were already down 7-0 and sleepwalking toward a fifth straight loss when Monday night turned genuinely frightening. A routine fly ball to shallow right field sent two of their own players sprinting toward the same spot, and only one walked away clean.
The play came in the top of the fourth. The Yankees had their infield in, leaving the ball in what Boone called no-man’s-land when Hao-Yu Lee lofted a high popup to shallow right. Jazz Chisholm drifted back from second base, Jasson Dominguez charged in from right. Dominguez made the catch as his arm struck Chisholm flush in the head. Chisholm dropped instantly and stayed down as athletic trainer Tim Lentych and Boone hurried out to him.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. crumpled to the grass after taking Dominguez’s elbow to the head, and the Yankees’ miserable week added an injury scare to the pile.
Chisholm lay on his back for several minutes at Yankee Stadium before walking off with a trainer. The Yankees later placed him in concussion protocol, turning a 7-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers into something more worrying than another defeat.
The early signs were cautiously encouraging. The Yankees said Chisholm was examined by team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad and placed in concussion protocol. Boone said afterward that Chisholm had not been diagnosed with a concussion but would remain in the protocol, with a clearer picture expected Tuesday.
Boone admitted he did not yet have the full story on the play or the prognosis.
“It’s not something we want,” Boone said. “Hopefully, Jazz’s injury is not too bad. As the week unfolds, we start getting some guys back in the mix. It’s part of it. We have to handle it, and guys have to step up.”
Oswaldo Cabrera replaced Chisholm at second base. Chisholm, 28, struck out in his only at-bat and entered the night hitting .223 with 12 home runs and 33 RBIs. The injury capped a rough stretch for him, coming a day after he was ejected in Boston for spiking his helmet while arguing a check-swing call.
The Dominguez scare
Dominguez took responsibility for the miscommunication, explaining why he committed to the catch and why his teammate never heard him.
“The infield was in, so as soon as Lee hit the ball, in my mind, I decided I had to go catch the ball,” Dominguez said. “I called for the ball, but I didn’t call it loud enough. I wanted to make sure he was OK. After the game, I went to check on him.”
There was a second scare almost immediately. Still shaken from the miscommunication in shallow right, Dominguez had to reset on the very next batter when Kerry Carpenter drove a ball toward the outfield. Dominguez tracked it back, made the catch to end the fourth inning, and crashed hard into the wall.
For a moment, it looked like the Yankees might have lost two players on back-to-back plays. Dominguez stayed down briefly, adding to the tension already hanging over the Stadium after Chisholm’s exit.
He had a similar wall crashing landing him on the injured list with left shoulder injury on May 7, 2026.
Grisham and McMahon updates
Even as the Yankees absorbed the Chisholm scare, there were positive developments on the rest of their injury list, starting with Grisham. Per Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, Boone said the center fielder could play a rehab game Tuesday and rejoin the team as soon as Wednesday, with Friday the other possibility. He has been out since June 12 with a hamstring strain.
Grisham’s bat would be a welcome jolt for a lineup that has gone silent. Before the injury, he was hitting .328 with a .397 on-base percentage over his previous 15 games, and he had caught fire in his final seven before going down, hitting .400 in that span.
Grisham ranks in the 75th percentile for average exit velocity at 90.7 mph, per Baseball Savant, and grades well in barrel rate, hard-hit rate and expected slugging. His defense in center has slipped this year, but his return would give the Yankees a needed left-handed bat and a capable outfielder while Chisholm and others are sidelined.
McMahon is close behind. Sidelined by a throat infection that landed him on the injured list, he took ground balls for the first time Monday and is projected to be activated when eligible Friday. His return would restore an option at third base, a spot the Yankees have patched together during the slump.
There was movement on the bigger names too. On Tuesday, the Yankees planned a simulated game in which Fried, recovering from an elbow bone bruise, would face Stanton. Boone said Fried would build toward roughly 30 pitches over two simulated innings, while Stanton, who had a setback with his calf strain, was moving with more intensity.
Aaron Judge update
The most important name on the list is also the most uncertain. Aaron Judge has been out since early June with a fractured right rib, and the Yankees still have no firm timeline for his return. The captain is not yet swinging, and the team has been careful not to set expectations on a date.
His absence has reshaped everything. With Judge in the lineup this season, the Yankees were 36-23. Without him, they have gone 12-13, a stark split that underscores how much the offense runs through him. The slump that has dragged the team out of first place lines up almost exactly with the time he has spent on the injured list.
Until he is back, the Yankees are asking the rest of the roster to hold the line, and right now it is not holding. The hope inside the clubhouse is that Grisham, McMahon and eventually Stanton can stabilize the lineup enough to keep the team in contention until its best hitter returns. When that will be remains the question hanging over the season.
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