Yankees Starting 3B Josh Donaldson Leaves Game with Injury

New York Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson left Wednesday's game against the Philadelphia Phillies early with injury. He was removed with right hamstring tightness and will be re-evaluated on Thursday. He was replaced by Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

New York Yankees starting third baseman Josh Donaldson left Wednesday's game against the Philadelphia Phillies with right hamstring tightness. The team says he will be re-evaluated on Thursday.

Josh Donaldson left today's game with right hamstring tightness and will be reevaluated tomorrow.

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 5, 2023

He was replaced in the game by utility player Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Before he left the game, Donaldson was 0-1 at the plate. He's hitting just .125 in the early going this season.

Donaldson, 37, is in his second season with the Yankees after being acquired in a trade last year with the Minnesota Twins. He hit .222 last year for Yankees in 132 games. For his career, he's a .264 hitter with a .361 on-base percentage. He's spent time with the Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves, in addition to the Twins and Yankees.

He won the MVP in 2015 with Toronto, is a three-time all-star and has won two Silver Slugger awards.

Should Donaldson need to miss any time, Kiner-Falefa is the logical replacement. The 28-year-old won a Gold Glove at third for the Texas Rangers during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Kiner-Falefa was beaten out for the starting shortstop role by Yankees rookie Anthony Volpe, which forced him to the bench.

He has a career .263 batting average with a .314 on-base percentage. He hit four home runs a season ago with 48 RBIs.

At the time of this posting, the Yankees were leading the Phillies, 4-2, in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Yankees entered play on Wednesday with a 3-2 record.