Arun Qazi is on the list of people with a toe injury

NEW YORK – On an evening when darkness seemed to fall upon the Bronx well before sunset, the Yankees received disappointing injury news that certainly dampened the mood around their clubhouse. Head coach Aaron Boone announced after the team lost 3-2 to the White Sox in the Bronx on Tuesday night that both slugger Aaron Judge and left fielder Nestor Curtis will be placed on the injured list.

Judge suffers from a bruised and sprained ligament in his right big toe, and received a PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection in the toe on Tuesday night. Prior to the loss, Boone said the judge did a little better before his evaluation with Dr. Christopher Ahmed. He suffered from the disease after crashing into the fence while catching a sticky ball at Dodger Stadium on Saturday. Judge was out of the lineup for two straight games after the collision and received an X-ray on Monday.

“The most important thing right now is to try to get the swelling down,” Boone said. “He’s seen an improvement today, but for now we’re just trying to see where we’re at in the coming weeks or days.”

The judge’s X-rays came back negative, Boone said, with no fractures or fractures to the big toe. It was Boone’s slight moment of optimism, but the sobering fact of life without Judge in a Yankees lineup was still there.

“I think it definitely could have been worse,” Boone said. “I feel like he’s going to be ok, just needs a little time now. Hopefully it’s on the shorter side of things, but the bigger thing is to take the swelling down from there. Look, any time you lose Aaron Judge for any amount of time and he goes into IL – I hope it’s short – you don’t like that.”

The American League home champions have been on the heat lately, and any prolonged absence would be a blow to the Bronx Bombers. In 49 games, Judge hit .291/.404/.674 with a leading 19 home runs.

This is Judge’s second stint at IL this season after missing 10 games due to a right hip strain. However, in the wake of his historic AL MVP season in 2022, Judge has largely matched his speed per game at ’23.

The entire Yankees team understands the weight Judge’s presence carries, not only on the plate but on the clubhouse as well.

“He can’t replace that guy,” said Josh Donaldson, who homered in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s loss. From a leadership point of view [or] From a gameplay point of view. We’re really going to have to work together as a team and grind hits, play good defense, throw the ball really well, and hopefully keep winning ball games until he comes back.”

Clark Schmidt, who started in the loss on Tuesday, echoed those sentiments.

After the match, Schmidt said, “Everyone knows what an influence he is as a player – in our squad, in defence, in the dressing room”. “I think the most important thing is that he’s such a presence to us. He’s obviously the leader. He’s a great leader. It’s such a big hit.”

On the fieldside, Curtis was already expected to be placed on IL with a slight shoulder strain after experiencing “pain” in his swing arm between starts. Southpaw received a cortisone shot Tuesday to begin the rehabilitation process and will not throw for at least 10 days.

Curtis shared more details regarding the shoulder pain that prompted him to go to the Doctors’ team in the first place after his last start in Seattle.

“Throughout the start, it didn’t bother me,” Curtis said after Tuesday’s game. “It was just the recovery in the interval where it would take a little bit longer than usual to get the form right.

“It became hard to get ‘painless.’ After Seattle—I don’t usually throw up the day after my show, so I took that day off and then we had the day off. When I got to LA and I cast that first day, I didn’t feel That I’m fine…. It was the second day in L.A. when I said something, because I felt like I had just delivered yesterday. So, I wasn’t recovering on time.”