Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton had jokes after injury scare

Yankees right fielder Giancarlo Stanton made light of crashing into the wall after a 8-5 win over the Braves at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.

NEW YORK — Yankees assistant athletic trainer Tim Lentych was worried about Giancarlo Stanton after the hulking right fielder crashed into the wall.

“‘What inning is it? How many outs? What days is it?'” Stanton said Lentych asked him as they stood with manager Aaron Boone on the field.

Then Stanton smiled.

“I didn’t know (the answers to) any of them,” he said, eliciting laughs out of reporters surrounding his locker following the Yankees’ 8-5 win over the Braves at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.

MLB fines Gardner

Stanton had snagged Kurt Suzuki’s liner with his outstretched glove while running almost full speed and nailed the wall. His head was fine, he said. It was his left shoulder that was slightly banged up, but he said he doesn’t expect it to be a problem.

That the Yankees checked on Stanton right away was significant.

About a week ago, left fielder Brett Gardner crashed into the wall at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, the back of his head nailing it. He appeared shaken up and he shook his head, seemingly to regain his senses, but the Yankees training staff stayed in the dugout, Boone said, because it just believed Gardner was fine.

This time was different.

“Just making sure,” Boone said. “Just trying to stay vigilant on that stuff any time a guy hits the wall or something. He convinced me right away but Timmy wanted to get hit hands on him, just to make sure. He was good to go.”

Stanton called the check up precautionary.

“I hit it pretty hard but I wasn’t too bad,” he said. “They just came out for precautionary to make sure.”

Clearly, Stanton was fine, as his two-run homer to right field in the eighth inning gave the Yankees much-needed breathing room. They watched a 6-0 lead zip to 6-5 before the blast.

Stanton said he’s comfortable playing right field in Yankee Stadium. He came over in the offseason after spending eight years with the Marlins.

“You worry about it,” Stanton said about hitting the wall. “You don’t want to hit it hard but you want put your body in the best position to get the ball and kind of spin off the wall if you can. There are going to be times where you crush the wall, times where you’re able to finesse and get it right, but that was right in the middle there.”

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