ARLINGTON, Texas — Jake Bauers made a spectacular first impression in a Yankees uniform, but it knocked him out of the game.
Bauers, after being called up to the active roster earlier on Saturday, started in left field and made an outstanding catch to end the bottom of the first inning of the Yankees’ 2-0 loss to the Rangers Globe Life Field.
But he did so by sliding and slamming into the left-field wall at full speed, and he stayed down on the warning track after making the highlight-reel grab.
Trainers, manager Aaron Boone and teammates raced out to check on Bauers, whose right knee and face appeared to take the brunt of the collision with the wall.
Bauers eventually walked off the field under his own power, but he exited the game with a “right knee contusion,” the Yankees said.
Initial X-rays were negative, but Bauers will undergo additional testing, including an MRI exam, on Sunday.
“Tough. Tough to deal with,” Bauers said. “But at the end of the day, everything happens for a reason. Might not always know what that reason is. Just try to keep my head up and see where we’re at [Sunday].”
Boone, who said Bauers was “clearly shaken” in the immediate aftermath, indicated that all the manual testing on Bauers’ knee Saturday “looked good.”
The 27-year-old also appeared to avoid any kind of a head injury.
Bauers said his knee was feeling swollen postgame, and he was walking around the clubhouse with a noticeable limp.
“Great play to start off your season up here, and then to have to come out, you feel for him,” Boone said. “Hopefully it’s not something too serious.”
Boone said it was “possible” the Yankees would need to call up another outfielder for the series finale Sunday, but they were still working through that Saturday night. They were already playing short with Aaron Judge also injured.
It was Bauers’ offense that had earned him a promotion back to the big leagues to replace Franchy Cordero on the Yankees’ roster. Saturday was his first MLB action since 2021. He was batting .319 with a 1.271 OPS and nine home runs in 21 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
But Bauers did not have a chance to get his first at-bat in the majors this season because the defensive gem forced him out of the game early.
“That’s tough,” said Aaron Hicks, who replaced Bauers in left field. “He made a great play. He’d been doing great in Triple-A. To finally get the opportunity and then to get hurt in the first game you play is kind of rough. We definitely were rooting for him. Now that he’s hurt, it kind of sucks, especially when someone grinded his way up.”