Paul Goldschmidt was unavailable for the New York Yankees during Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Twins due to a low-grade right knee sprain. The injury, which occurred while Goldschmidt caught a foul popup in front of the Yankees’ dugout on Tuesday, left him unable to pinch-hit in a key seventh-inning situation. Instead, Austin Wells faced left-hander Kody Funderburk and struck out looking.
“I don’t think it’s anything long-term, so I think that’s good,” Goldschmidt said. “That’s the really positive thing — if it is a short-term thing, I feel really good about that.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone stated that Goldschmidt will be evaluated after Thursday’s off-day and did not rule out placing him on the injured list. Goldschmidt expressed hope to play in the upcoming three-game series in St. Louis, where he played from 2019 to 2024.
Goldschmidt described how he sustained the injury: “I kind of over-ran it and dove back, and hit my knee on the ground,” he said. “I felt that it was sore [Tuesday], but obviously I was able to play through it. As I was going back to my position, I was like, ‘That kind of hurt.’ Stuff like that happens.”
This season has marked a return to form for Goldschmidt. He is batting .276 with 10 home runs and 40 RBIs over 112 games. His performance against left-handed pitchers has been especially strong, with an OPS of 1.192 compared to .584 against right-handers.
“He’s been a huge part of this team,” said Cody Bellinger. “He’s a vacuum over there at first base as well. I really appreciate what he does on the defensive side. For me, it’s the quality ABs; he’s a true professional in every single at-bat.”
The Yankees lost Wednesday’s game 4-1 after Kody Clemens hit a go-ahead two-run double off Yerry De los Santos in the sixth inning for Minnesota. Rain delayed the contest by nearly two hours.
New York managed only four hits and two walks against Twins starter Joe Ryan, who gave up just one run—a third-inning homer by Bellinger—over 6 2/3 innings while striking out seven.
“He definitely settled in,” Bellinger said about Ryan. “He was locating really well today. It’s such a unique arm. He mixed really well. Ultimately, he did a really good job.”
Despite losing on Wednesday, New York won two out of three games in their series against Minnesota and had previously enjoyed a nine-game win streak versus the Twins dating back several seasons.
Rookie pitcher Cam Schlittler made his sixth start for New York and continued to impress with his fastball velocity averaging 98.3 mph and reaching as high as 99.8 mph during his outing.
“The fastball, it’s always good, but it plays up in the zone,” Boone said about Schlittler’s performance. “He’s really good down with it, just with that angle he creates, and then he can work in the secondary off that. I thought he was really good. The first three innings, he was just cruising through.”
Schlittler retired nine straight batters before allowing a run in the fourth inning and finished after five innings when his pitch count reached 86 following an extended at-bat by Royce Lewis.
“I felt good, but I’m a rookie,” Schlittler said regarding being removed from the game after five innings pitched rather than extending further into triple-digit pitch counts like more experienced starters Max Fried or Carlos Rodón do regularly for their teams.
