As New York Yankees third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera was being taken off the field in an ambulance on Monday night, there was one thing he needed to know.
«Right before he got carted off, he just called me over and said, ‘Hey, did I score?’ » his Yankees teammate Aaron Judge told reporters after the game.
«[It] just kind of shows you what type of guy he is,” Judge, 33, said, according to ESPN. “Something like that happens, and the one thing on his mind for all the pain and everything is, ‘Did I score?'»
The frightening incident happened in the top of the 9th inning during the Yankees 11-5 win over the Seattle Mariners, when Judge hit a pop fly to right field. Cabrera tagged up from third and ran home, jumping to his right at the last second to avoid Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh and landing awkwardly on his left ankle while trying to stretch out to touch home plate.
The 26-year-old stayed down, writhing and slamming his fists on the dirt in agony as his teammates worriedly watched team trainers check his leg.
«I think everyone understands it was a pretty serious situation,» Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game. «So, just praying for our guy tonight and hoping for the best. Trust that he’s in good hands as he goes through the night here.»
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Several minutes after the near-collision, Cabrera was being lifted off the ground and taken away in an ambulance from T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
That’s when Cabrera waved over Judge and asked if he managed to score before getting injured. He did, Judge told him, and the Yankees held the lead for an 11-5 victory.
«He cares for everybody in this room,” Judge said later. “He loves being a Yankee. 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.»
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Cabrera joined the Yankees in 2022 and has been back-and-forth between the team’s minor league system and its MLB club, often filling in at third base. It’s appeared this season, though, that the Venezuelan native has become a particularly beloved member of the Yankees roster with Boone telling MLB.com at the start of this season that Cabrera’s daily enthusiasm has become a key factor in the team’s decision to often include him in the starting lineup.
After Monday’s injury, Boone again complimented Cabrera for his effort and noted the young third baseman’s teammates have taken notice of the same.
“[Trent Grisham] said something after: ‘Cabby does it right every day,’ ” Boone told reporters, according to MLB.com. “Every day. How he prepares to do his job, the kind of teammate he is, the joy he walks in this room with every single day. He is an example in so many ways for anyone to look to for how to go about living their life.”
