New York Yankees: Gio Urshela’s double play hurts in multiple ways

It is not uncommon to see a bat splinter during a plate appearance these days. With players looking for bat speed, and pitchers throwing harder, bats will shatter more often. Yet, players typically avoid injury during those moments. That is, until New York Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela shattered his bat in Saturday’s game against the Oakland A’s.

With runners on first and second in the bottom of the second inning, Urshela splintered his bat on a soft grounder to the hole between third and short. Matt Chapman fielded the grounder, firing to second for the force, but since the ball was hit so slowly, second baseman Tony Kemp did not have any expectation of turning a double play.

New York Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela gets bat splinters in eye

However, when he looked up, Urshela was barely halfway down the line. That ground ball shattered his bat, with splinters getting into his eye. He was holding that eye as he made his way slowly to first, allowing the A’s to turn an easy double play.

Considering the number of injuries that the Yankees have dealt with over the years, it is not a surprise that they would have such a bizarre play happen to them. Fortunately for New York, he was able to stay in the game after flushing those pieces of bat from his eye.

That ended up being fortunate for the Yankees. He came through in the bottom of the fourth, lining a base hit up the middle to plate New York’s first run of the game. Even though his bat had splintered, and sent pieces into his eye, it was clear that he had moved on from the strange injury.

New York Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela had one of the more bizarre injuries ever seen. Fortunately, he is okay after getting bat shards in the eye.