NEW YORK-All-Star slugger Aaron Judge hurt his left oblique while taking a swing and likely was headed to the injured list as the already banged-up New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 9-2 Saturday.
Judge homered early, but hurt himself in the sixth inning while hitting a single. He was taken to a hospital for an MRI and further tests.
Asked if Judge could possibly avoid going on the injured list, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, "Probably not."
The Yankees began the game with 12 players on the injured list, including Giancarlo Stanton, Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez and Aaron Hicks. Of those missing, only Sanchez appears close to returning.
Judge winced after taking a swing in the sixth and gingerly made his way to first base. Trainer Steve Donahue immediately came from the dugout to check on Judge, who then left.
Judge has five home runs and is batting .288 with 11 RBIs. The right fielder has played in every game this season.
"It's Aaron Judge. He's one of the great players in the game," Boone said.
It was the second straight season Judge was hurt playing against Kansas City. Last July, he sustained a broken right wrist when he was hit by a pitch from Jakob Junis and missed nearly two months.
The Yankees hit four home runs in the win.
Judge connected in the first, Clint Frazier had a solo drive in the second and Mike Tauchman and DJ LeMahieu homered on consecutive pitches in the fourth.
Boone was ejected for the first time this season in the third after an apparent three-run homer by Gleyber Torres was overturned by fan interference and ruled an out.
Torres hit a flyball to left and a fan in the first row reached over and tried to make a barehanded catch as Gold Glove outfielder Alex Gordon attempted to make a leaping catch.
The Royals challenged the call and following a lengthy review to overturn it, Boone raced out of the dugout and was ejected by second base umpire Jerry Meals following a demonstrative display. After being tossed for the fifth time as a manager, Boone briefly argued with first base umpire Ron Kulpa before heading off the field.
Judge and Frazier hit their fifth homers of the season in the opening two innings off Heath Fillmyer (0-1) as the Yankees took a 2-0 lead.
Indians 8, Braves 4, Game 1
CLEVELAND-Corey Kluber's fastball had late movement. He had command, control and that unmistakable presence.
One game after a horrible start, Kluber looked much better - like, well, himself.
Kluber bounced back from one of his worst outings in recent years by working seven innings and Carlos Santana celebrated his U.S. citizenship with three hits, leading Cleveland over the Atlanta Braves 8-4 in the opener of a doubleheader on Saturday.
Kluber (2-2) shook off a rough first inning and allowed four runs and five hits. The right-hander didn't get out of the third inning in his previous start, when he walked a career-high five and gave up two homers in a no-decision against Kansas City.
Max Moroff homered and had two RBIs for Cleveland, which won its fourth straight.
Greg Allen hit a run-scoring double off starter Julio Teheran (2-2) and the Indians scored six runs in the fifth - all with two outs. Teheran fell to 6-13 in interleague games.
Brian McCann and Matt Joyce connected for back-to-back homers off Kluber in the seventh. The Braves, who have lost four in a row, had just six hits.
Blue Jays 10, Athletics 1
OAKLAND, Calif.-Matt Shoemaker sat in front of his locker late Saturday afternoon staring at a cellphone, his left knee wrapped tightly in a protective bandage. The Toronto pitcher was in no mood to talk, not after yet another injury that has imperiled his season.
That the Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics 10-1 to continue their successful road trip hardly seemed to matter.
With Shoemaker's sprained knee scheduled for an MRI on Sunday, few in Toronto's clubhouse were in the mood to celebrate.
Shoemaker, sidelined in recent years by a series of injuries, was hurt while chasing Oakland's Matt Chapman in the third inning. The 32-year-old starter applied the tag and spun around to avoid contact.
As he twirled, Shoemaker appeared to injure his knee.
Rowdy Tellez and Brandon Drury hit back-to-back homers during a five-run fourth inning. Justin Smoak also homered and shortstop Freddy Galvis made an over-the-shoulder, barehanded catch as the Blue Jays won for the fifth time in six games on their road trip.
Twins 6, Orioles 5, Game 1
BALTIMORE-Eddie Rosario is making long-ball history for the Minnesota Twins.
Rosario homered twice for a second consecutive game, Byron Buxton hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the sixth inning and the Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 Saturday in the opener of a doubleheader.
Rosario delivered solo shots off Dan Straily in the second and fifth innings, a suitable encore to his two-homer afternoon against Toronto on Thursday. He is the first player in Twins history to hit eight home runs in the team's first 17 games, and only the third to hit multiple homers in successive games, joining Kirby Puckett (1987) and Don Mincher (1963).
Rosario's eighth career multihomer game gave him 18 RBIs. All eight of his home runs have come in his last 11 games.
Diamondbacks 6, Cubs 0
CHICAGO-Zack Greinke made it look easy in his first victory at Wrigley Field. Then, he got upstaged by a teammate making a memorable major league debut.
Greinke pitched three-hit ball over six innings, Taylor Clarke got a save and a hit after being called up from the minors, and the Arizona Diamondbacks knocked out three home runs in a 6-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
Clarke became the first pitcher with a save and a hit in his major league debut since saves became an official stat in 1969, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
"Pretty fun, pretty special to be a part of that and experience all of that and have success," Clarke said.
Called up from Triple-A Reno, he allowed one hit over the final three innings and preserved Arizona's first shutout since a 9-0 romp over Chicago last Sept. 19. He also led off the eighth with a single to the left side of the infield that deflected off the pitcher's glove in his first at-bat.
"He's got great memories," manger Torey Lovullo said. "He can hand them off to his boys and his wife and his parents, so it's a very special moment for him and for us and for all of player development. He pounded the zone with the stuff we remember him using from spring training, the transition here is no different, he showed us that it was the same game."
Greinke (3-1) won for the third time in four starts since a season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner also picked up his first victory in six career starts at Wrigley, giving him at least one win at every National League ballpark. He helped himself at the plate with a double.
"Felt good, weather wasn't ideal, pitching or hitting," Greinke said. "But it felt all right out there. Three runs were nice early and then the extra later was even better."
Eduardo Escobar and David Peralta hit back-to-back solo homers against a shaky Yu Darvish (1-3) in the first. John Ryan Murphy capped a three-run sixth against Allen Webster with a two-run homer that made it 6-0.
Christian Walker had a career-high four hits and scored a run, helping the Diamondbacks win for the fifth time in six games on a windy afternoon.
The Cubs had won eight of 11 following a 1-6 start and were trying to go above .500 for the first time since a season-opening victory at Texas.
Darvish lasted five innings, allowing three runs and five hits. The shaky outing followed three straight dominant starts against Miami and Arizona by Jose Quintana, Cole Hamels and Kyle Hendricks, who each went seven scoreless innings.
"Overall, not horrible," manager Joe Maddon said. "Not a bad performance. The homers early make it look worse than it was."