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Oswaldo Cabrera is taken away in an ambulance during the ninth inning Monday night.

The New York Yankees continue to hold first place in the American League East, despite a lengthy series of injuries to key players. But on Monday night in Seattle, they suffered their most horrifying injury yet, as 26-year-old third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera had to be taken from the field by ambulance, on a stretcher.

Cabrera had taken over the third base position for New York this year as 36-year-old D.J. LeMahieu rehabs from a calf injury that dates back to early spring training. But now Cabrera may be gone for the rest of the season with a gruesome leg injury that happened on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Judge in the ninth inning.

The Yankees were already leading the Seattle Mariners 10-5 with one out in the top of ninth when Judge lifted a fly ball to right fielder Leody Tavares. Cabrera was the runner on third. He singled earlier in the inning, advanced to second when Oswald Peraza was hit by a pitch, then to third on Trent Grisham single.

Gruesome Injury on Awkward Slide Attempt

Cabrera tagged up on Judge’s fly-out, then raced home to beat the throw to the plate. He slid awkwardly, and the cleats of his left shoe appeared to catch in the dirt around home, bending his leg at an unnatural angle beneath him. Even with the injury, Cabrera reached back to touch the plate with his hand, making sure he scored the Yankees 11th run.

Yankees trainer Tim Lentych rushed from the dugout and covered Cabrera’s leg with a towel. An ambulance was called onto the field. Paramedics wrapped Cabrera’s left leg in an air cast, strapped him to a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance.

The Yankees later said that the Venezuelan native had been taken to Harborview Medical Center, not far from the Mariners’ home of T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

“He was in pain. That’s what he kept saying a lot,” New York manager Aaron Boone told reporters after the game. Boone said that before Cabrera was taken from the field, he asked Judge, “Did I score?”

When Judge told him that indeed his run had counted, Cabrera was able to smile, Boone said.

“He cares for everybody in this room. He loves being a Yankee,” Judge told the media. “He wears his jersey with pride. This is a tough one, especially a guy that’s grinded his whole life and finally got an opportunity to be our everyday guy and been excelling at it.”

LaMahieu to be Activated Tuesday

The injury appeared to be to Cabrera’s left ankle, but the Yankees had not provided an update on Cabrera’s condition as of early Tuesday morning.

Cabrera was signed by the Yankees as an international free agent at age 17 in 2016, then made his professional debut that year with a Yankees affiliate in the Dominican Summer League.

He made his Major League debut on August 17, 2022, in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

In fill-in duty for LeMahieu at third base this season, Cabrera appeared in 34 games, starting 30 at the hot corner. He had mostly struggled at the plate with 26 hits and 11 walks in 122 plate appearances before Monday’s game, compiling a .631 OPS.

LeMahieu was set to be activated from the injured list Tuesday, but his role was now uncertain. Boone had said that after second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. went out with multiple tears to his oblique muscle, LeMahieu would take over second base. But with Cabrera now appearing to looking at a lengthy absence,  that would again leave a vacancy at third.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin

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