Uh, oh! Yankees' Aaron Judge hurt, goes to hospital

by Felix Pantaleon

Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge was on his way to the hospital after getting pull from Thursday’s game against the Royals at Yankee Stadium. Judge was hit by a pitch.

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NEW YORK — The Yankees have to be worried.

Right fielder and megastar Aaron Judge was pulled in the fourth inning of a game against the Royals at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.

Judge went to New York Presbyterian Hospital for an MRI after team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad examined him, a spokesperson said.

Royals starting pitcher Jakob Junis hit Judge with a 93.4 mph fastball in the first inning.

He stayed in the game and even had another at-bat — recording an infield single — before exiting.

Judge, 26, has never been on the disabled list since making his MLB debut in August 2016.

What scout says about Happ trade

Below is the Yankees’ press release on trading for starting pitcher J.A. Happ earlier Thursday.

The New York Yankees today announced that they have acquired LHP J.A. Happ from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for INF Brandon Drury and OF Billy McKinney.

Happ, 35, went 10-6 with a 4.18 ERA (114.0IP, 99H, 61R/53ER, 35BB, 130K, 17HR) and a career-best 10.26 K/9.0IP ratio in 20 starts with the Blue Jays in 2018. He made his first career All-Star Game this season, earning the save in the American League’s 10-inning, 8-6, win.

Over 12 Major League seasons with the Phillies (2007-10), Astros (2010-12), Blue Jays (2012-14, ’16-18), Mariners (2015) and Pirates (2015), he has gone 102-82 with a 3.95 ERA (1,467.0IP, 1,397H, 692R/644ER, 540BB, 1,294K, 179HR) in 273 career games (248 starts). He is one of five pitchers to earn at least 10 wins in each of the last five seasons (2014-18), along with Zack Greinke, Jon Lester, Chris Sale and Max Scherzer.

Two seasons ago, he went 20-4 with a 3.18 ERA (195.0IP, 69ER) for Toronto, tying for second in the Majors in wins and ranking sixth in 2016 American League Cy Young Award voting.

Happ has made 10 career postseason appearances (three starts), going 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA (19.1IP, 8ER). In the Blue Jays’ 2016 ALCS run, he went 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA (10.0IP, 3ER) in two starts.

The Spring Valley, Ill., native was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft. He has been traded in July in four of the last nine years, also moving from Philadelphia to Houston in 2010, from Houston to Toronto in 2012 and from Seattle to Pittsburgh in 2015. Happ signed a three-year contract with the Blue Jays on November 30, 2015 and will be a free agent at the end of the 2018 season.

Drury, 25, hit .176 (9-for-51) with 2R, 2 doubles, 1HR and 7RBI in 18 games over three stints with the Yankees, while also missing more than a month of the season with severe migraines. With two starts at 1B, four starts at 2B and eight starts at 3B, he is one of nine Yankees in the Wild Card Era to start at 1B, 2B and 3B in the same season, joining Luis Sojo (1998, 2000-01), Clay Bellinger (2000), Miguel Cairo (2006-07), Wilson Betemit (2007-08), Cody Ransom (2008-09), David Adams (2013), Mark Reynolds (2013) and Neil Walker (2018). He also appeared in 55 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season, hitting .294 (58-for-197) with 30R, 13 doubles, 5HR and 30RBI en route to being named to the International League All-Star team. The Grants Pass, Ore., native was acquired by the Yankees from the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a three-team trade (also Tampa Bay) on February 20, 2018. He was originally selected by Atlanta in the 13^th round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft.

McKinney, 23, made his Major League debut with the Yankees in 2018, going 1-for-4 in two games before being placed on the disabled list for nearly two months with a left shoulder sprain after colliding into the left field wall at Rogers Centre. He has spent most of the season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, batting .230 (48-for-209) with 26R, 8 doubles, 5 triples, 13HR and 32RBI in 54 games. The Dallas, Tex., native was acquired by the Yankees along with RHP Adam Warren, INF Gleyber Torres and OF Rashad Crawford from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for LHP Aroldis Chapman on July 25, 2016

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.