Aaron Judge injury: Yankees avoid the worst after slugger takes awkward slide into third base

Judge went into the tunnel after the inning, but returned for his next at-bat

The New York Yankees appear to have avoided a disastrous injury Wednesday. Aaron Judge jammed his right hand/wrist during an ugly slide into third base in his team's series finale with the Minnesota Twins (NYY 12, MIN 6). Judge was tagged out and headed right to the clubhouse with the trainers, but ultimately remained in the game.

"There was some talk (about coming out of the game) but we ended those pretty quick. You can either play or you can't play, so I was able to play," Judge said after the game (per MLB.com). Here's the awkward slide:

Judge, who is celebrating his 31st birthday Wednesday, was 2 for 2 with two doubles before the slide and 1 for 2 with a single and a walk after. He was in the lineup at DH and did not have to play the field, and the television broadcast showed Boone talking to Judge before his first at-bat after the slide, presumably checking to see whether he wanted to stay in the game.

"We got on base the next couple at-bats, so we're all good," Judge said after the game. "... We're feeling good."

Needless to say, losing Judge for any length of time would be a devastating blow to a Yankees squad hitting .232/.308/.392 as a team even after Wednesday's 12-run outburst. They rank 22nd among the 30 teams with an average of 4.00 runs scored per game. Taking Judge away from that offense for even a few games would be an enormous loss.

By his standards, Judge is off to a slow start this season. He entered Wednesday's game with a .244/.337/.488 batting line and six home runs, and he was in a 7 for 45 (.156) slump in his previous 13 games. A year ago, Judge authored a .311/.425/.686 batting line with an American League single-season record 62 home runs, earning him the AL MVP award.

The Yankees have been hit hard by injuries early on this season. They're currently without their No. 2 (Carlos Rodón) and No. 3 (Luis Severino) starters, their starting center fielder (Harrison Bader), their DH (Giancarlo Stanton), their top setup man (Jonathan Loàisiga), and several other depth arms.

Judge returned to the Yankees on a massive nine-year, $360 million contract this past offseason. The Yankees named him the 16th captain in franchise history soon thereafter.

Wednesday's win improved New York's record to 14-11 in the early going. They are in fourth place in the stacked AL East.