Mariano Rivera’s career may have ended Thursday night, not while basking in the glow of adoring fans at Yankee Stadium but in agonizing pain on the outfield grass before a few thousand fans in Kansas City.
Baseball’s greatest closer tore a ligament in his right knee while shagging balls during batting practice before a game against the Royals, a devastating injury that will likely sideline the Yankees’ 12-time All-Star for the remainder of the season.
“This is bad,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “There’s no question about it.”
The 42-year-old right-hander’s leg caught on the field where the grass meets dirt, causing his knee to buckle. He fell into the outfield wall and down to the ground, where Rivera grimaced in pain as teammates and training staff ran out to see him.
Rivera was carted from the field and taken for an MRI. Royals physician Dr. Vincent Key diagnosed a torn ACL after examining the scans of the knee.
“I thought it wasn’t that bad, but it’s torn,” Rivera said after the Yankees lost 4-3, pausing several times in the Yankees clubhouse to compose himself. “Have to fix it.”
Rivera has said that he will decide after the season whether to retire, and while Girardi said he hoped that baseball’s career saves leader with 608 would make a comeback, Rivera was noncommittal.
“At this point, I don’t know,” he said. “Going to have to face this first. It all depends on how the rehab is going to happen, and
from there, we’ll see.”
The injury cast a pall over the Yankees.
“I saw it all go down,” said Alex Rodriguez, who uttered “Oh, my God,” from behind the batting cage when Rivera went down. “Obviously it’s a huge blow. Mo means so much to this team.
“It’s hard to even talk about it tonight,” Rodriguez said. “Mo means so much to us on a personal level, and on the field.”
The initial diagnosis was a twisted knee, but Girardi had a feeling the injury was much worse when he didn’t receive word as the game pressed on.
“My thought was he must have torn the ligament, the way he went down,” Girardi said.
Girardi was quick to defend Rivera’s decision to shag balls in the outfield, pointing out that he may never have become a five-time World Series champion without putting in such work. He called it a fluke injury, not unlike somebody falling off the curb or down the stairs.
“You’ve all seen Mo run around here for what, 40 years?” Girardi said.
Derek Jeter said that Rivera has shagged balls for the “20-something” years that he’s known him, and never once did the notion that he could be hurt cross his mind.
“It’s bad. There’s no other way to put it,” Jeter said. “It’s just a freak thing.”
Yankees infielder Eric Chavez was released from the hospital and put on the seven-day concussion disabled list.
Chavez hurt himself when he dived for J.J. Hardy’s double down the line in the fifth inning of Wednesday night’s game against Baltimore. The former Athletic went to the plate in the bottom of the inning but felt dizzy, at which point he was removed from the game.
Nationals-Diamondbacks: Bryce Harper showed why his manager put him in the No. 3 spot for his fifth career game. The 19-year-old phenom hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the sixth inning, lifting Washington to 2-1 victory over Arizona.
Washington manager Davey Johnson moved Harper up four spots in the lineup a day after he went 3 for 4 with two doubles, and the rookie delivered. He is now 6 for 16 in his five games, with four doubles and three RBIs.
Harper also had an interesting night on the basepaths. He hit a weak grounder back to Ian Kennedy in the first, but the pitcher’s throw was wide and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft took second on what appeared to be an error. The Diamondbacks decided to appeal, and Harper was called out for failing to touch first base.
Trade: The Padres sent right-handed reliever Ernesto Frieri to the Angels for minor leaguers Alexi Amarista and Donn Roach.
That’s all for today.
