CLEVELAND (AP) — The New York Yankees won’t have reliever Ian Hamilton for the rest of the AL Championship Series against Cleveland after he injured his left calf in Game 3 on Thursday night.
The AL East champions replaced Hamilton with Mark Leiter Jr. The move was made just hours before Game 4 on Friday.
Hamilton got hurt while the right-hander covered first base in the sixth inning. The Yankees wound up blowing a 5-3 lead in the ninth and losing 7-5 to the Guardians, who got a game-tying homer from rookie Jhonkensy Noel in the ninth and David Fry’s walk-off in the 10th.
New York leads the series 2-1.
Hamilton went 0-1 with a 3.82 ERA in 35 games for the Yankees this season. He missed nearly three months with a strained side muscle. He returned in mid-September and pitched in the ALDS against Kansas City.
In the sixth, Guardians rookie Daniel Schneemann hit a grounder to first baseman Jon Berti, who bobbled the ball. Hamilton hustled over to the base, and appeared to step awkwardly. He threw a wild warmup pitch before manager Aaron Boone replaced him.
The team announced he had calf tightness.
Leiter went 2-1 with a 4.98 ERA in 21 games with the Yankees, who acquired him in a July trade from the Cubs. The 33-year-old was 2-4 with a 4.21 ERA in 39 games for Chicago.
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Photo Credit: New York Yankees relief pitcher Ian Hamilton (71) begins to leave the field during the fourth inning against Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto. Lance McMillan/Toronto Star May-16-2023 (Lance McMillan/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
