Yankees lose to Rangers, hope they won't lose Aaron Judge

ARLINGTON, Texas — Yankees fans still were on pins and needles late Friday night awaiting word on the results of the MRI that Aaron Judge underwent earlier in the day after being removed from Thursday’s game with right hip discomfort.

They did not get much in the way of distraction from their favorite team while waiting.

Though former Met Jacob deGrom departed with an undisclosed injury after 3 2⁄3 innings, another ineffective outing by Clarke Schmidt and more struggles from the offense sunk the Yankees in a 5-2 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Before the game, Aaron Boone said “we don’t have anything” regarding the MRI results but said “hopefully in the next couple of hours,” he would get the information.

There was no announcement during the game, one in which the Yankees fell to 15-12 after being outhit by the Rangers 10-5. They failed to score more than three runs for the 11th time in the last 15 games.

Boone did not have much more in the way of specifics afterward, though he did acknowledge the MRI showed “something” in the hip. “It doesn’t seem too serious,’’ he said, “but that said, we still don’t have a clear picture of it yet.”

Is a stint on the injured list likely? “I don’t know yet,’’ he said. “It seems like it could be day-to-day, but it also could be a short stint. We’ll have to see when [team doctor] Dr. Ahmad weighs in.”

Earlier Friday, Boone said, “He’s arguably the best player in the sport. It’s no secret what he means to our team. Hopefully we don’t lose him for long, but we’ve got a game to play.”

Schmidt (0-3, 6.84), fairly good against Toronto in his most recent start, allowed a season-worst five runs and a season-worst 10 hits in five innings, walking one and striking out eight.

“Still making a lot of quality pitches but still finding that damage area too much . . . Some mistakes in some damage zones is what’s getting him still,’’ Boone said. “When you miss, you have to miss to spots where you’re not going to get hurt. That’s the next level and the next step for him.”

Said Schmidt, “I would say my stuff is probably the best it’s been. Velocity-wise, sharpness of stuff. I’m getting really good locations . . . Obviously, it’s frustrating with having such good stuff right now and not be able to put up zeros throughout the whole outing. Being able to show flashes of it, it’s obviously encouraging, but we’ve got to be able to build off of it and learn from our mistakes.”

DeGrom, the injury-prone righthander who was a two-time National League Cy Young Award winner with the Mets in 2018 and ’19, left the game with two outs in the fourth after allowing his only hit of the night, a line-drive single by Willie Calhoun.

The Rangers took the lead in the second when Jonah Heim led off with a single, Robbie Grossman (three hits) doubled and Ezequiel Duran hit an RBI groundout to short. Marcus Semien’s RBI double made it 2-0.

Adolis Garcia singled with one out in the third and scored on Heim’s two-out double. Grossman then hit a two-run homer to right to make it 5-0.

The Yankees moved within 5-1 in the fifth when Oswaldo Cabrera doubled and scored on Kyle Higashioka’s two-out single.

Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch to start the sixth — the 206th time he’s been hit in his career, eight-most all-time — and eventually scored on Calhoun’s sacrifice fly to center.

That would be all for the offense, already an inconsistent group with Judge and a step above feeble without him.

Outfielder Jake Bauers, a non-roster invitee in spring training, was promoted Friday to be a part of the taxi squad each team is allowed to carry for road games.

Bauers, 27, had a good spring training with the Yankees, something he took into the regular season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The lefthanded-hitting outfielder, who hit .407 with no homers and an .877 OPS in 13 Grapefruit League games, was hitting .319 with nine homers and a 1.271 OPS in 21 games in Triple-A.

“I think it’s always kind of been in there, it just hasn’t always shown up in games,” Bauers said of the power surge he’s shown with Scranton. “I feel like the Yankees, to their credit, have gotten my swing to a place where I’m just able to do it consistently. Hopefully nothing changes now that I’m here.”

Franchy Cordero, who had a hot start to the year, had a tough night in the field and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, leaving him hitless in his last 21 at-bats.

“Baseball is tough, really tough,’’ he said through his interpreter. “When you’re getting good results in this league, pitchers are going to make adjustments. Credit to them for making adjustments, and now I have to find a way to make my adjustments.”

One adjustment he’ll have to make: playing for Scranton. After the game, he was optioned to Triple-A, opening a spot for Bauers regardless of the Judge situation.