TORONTO — Robinson Cano was removed in the first inning of the Yankees’ game with the Blue Jays on Tuesday night after the second baseman was hit by a pitch on his left hand.
Cano, the third batter of the game, couldn’t avoid an 0-2 pitch from Jays starter J. A. Happ that sailed up and made contact as Cano was checking his swing. Cano was in obvious pain and required a few minutes of observation from trainer Steve Donohue and manager Joe Girardi.
Cano took his place at first base and later scored on Alfonso Soriano’s three-run homer, but he didn’t take the field in the bottom half of the inning. Eduardo Nunez replaced Cano at second base.
It was announced in the sixth inning of tonight’s game that Cano left the game with a left hand contusion and was taken for X-rays, which came back negative. Cano is listed as day-to-day.
Cano is hitting .305 with 24 homers, 85 RBI, a .384 on-base percentage and a .506 slugging percentage, leading the Yankees in all categories. He is also the only Yankee who had appeared in all 131 of the team’s games this season.
The Yankees have had tough injury luck against Blue Jays pitching this year. It was Happ who hit Curtis Granderson with a pitch on the outfielder’s first spring training at-bat, fracturing Granderson’s right forearm and causing him to miss the first six weeks of the season.
It was just last Wednesday that Jayson Nix suffered a fractured right hand after being hit from a pitch from Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Nix is expected to miss the rest of the season due to the injury.