NEW YORK (AP) — New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo is uncertain for the postseason after fracturing the fourth and fifth fingers of his right hand when hit by a pitch from Pittsburgh's Ryan Borucki in the seventh inning of Saturday’s 9-4 loss to the Pirates.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said it was too early to determine whether Rizzo will be able to play in the AL Division Series opener on Oct. 5.
“We’ll see what we have as the week moves forward. It doesn’t totally rule him out,” Boone said. “Something that is a pain-tolerance thing. So we’ll see as the days unfold here what we have.”
Rizzo was hit on the bottom of his hand by Borucki’s 1-2 slider leading off the seventh, the 222nd time Rizzo was hit by a pitch in his big league career. Rizzo winced in pain and stayed in after being checked out by head athletic trainer Tim Lentych.
After the Yankees batted in the seventh, Oswaldo Cabrera moved over from shortstop and Anthony Volpe entered at shortstop.
Rizzo missed 62 games with a fractured right forearm after colliding with Red Sox reliever Brennan Bernardino in the seventh inning on June 16 at Fenway Park. He hit .228 with eight homers and 35 RBIs in 92 games this season, including .380 (8 for 21) since returning from the injured list on Sept. 1.
Oswaldo Cabrera and rookie Ben Rice are possible replacements for Rizzo. Rice hit .175 with seven homers and 23 RBIs in 49 games while Rizzo was sidelined.
Boone did not mention DJ LeMahieu, who hasn’t played since Sept. 3 because of right hip impingement.
It was the second significant injury for the Yankees during the regular season's finale week. Left-hander Nestor Cortes went on the injured list because of a flexor strain in his pitching elbow. Cortes and the Yankees are holding out hope he could return at some point in the postseason.
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New York Yankees' Anthony Rizzo runs to third base during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Eakin Howard)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. flu infections showed signs of a slight decline last week, but health officials say it is not clear that this severe flu season has peaked.
New government data posted Friday — for flu activity through last week — showed declines in medical office visits due to flu-like illness and in the number of states reporting high flu activity.
However, some measures show this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history. And experts believe there is more suffering ahead.
“This is going to be a long, hard flu season,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, in a statement Friday.
One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that is the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 91% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version — known as the subclade K variant — that differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots.
The last flu season saw the highest overall flu hospitalization rate since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. And child flu deaths reached 289, the worst recorded for any U.S. flu season this century — including that H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic of 2009-2010.
So far this season, there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses and 180,000 hospitalizations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. It also estimates there have been 7,400 deaths, including the deaths of at least 17 children.
Last week, 44 states reported high flu activity, down slightly from the week before. However, flu deaths and hospitalizations rose.
Determining exactly how flu season is going can be particularly tricky around the holidays. Schools are closed, and many people are traveling. Some people may be less likely to see a doctor, deciding to just suffer at home. Others may be more likely to go.
Also, some seasons see a surge in cases, then a decline, and then a second surge.
For years, federal health officials joined doctors' groups in recommending that everyone 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine. The shots may not prevent all symptoms but can prevent many infections from becoming severe, experts say.
But federal health officials on Monday announced they will no longer recommend flu vaccinations for U.S. children, saying it is a decision parents and patients should make in consultation with their doctors.
“I can’t begin to express how concerned we are about the future health of the children in this country, who already have been unnecessarily dying from the flu — a vaccine preventable disease,” said Michele Slafkosky, executive director of an advocacy organization called Families Fighting Flu.
“Now, with added confusion for parents and health care providers about childhood vaccines, I fear that flu seasons to come could be even more deadly for our youngest and most vulnerable," she said in a statement.
Flu is just one of a group of viruses that tend to strike more often in the winter. Hospitalizations from COVID-19 and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, also have been rising in recent weeks — though were not diagnosed nearly as often as flu infections, according to other federal data.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - Pharmacy manager Aylen Amestoy administers a patient with a seasonal flu vaccine at a CVS Pharmacy in Miami, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
