Harrison Bader: ‘I got pretty lucky’ after outfield collision

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Harrison Bader knows it could have been far worse. “Dodged a bullet,” the centerfielder said.

Bader was back in the lineup Friday night as the Yankees opened a three-game series against the Rays at Tropicana Field. He hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning to tie the score at 4-4.

When Bader was forced to leave the game in the ninth inning of Wednesday night’s 4-3 victory over the Guardians at the Stadium,  playing Friday seemed a long shot at best.

Bader, playing in only his second game of the season after starting the season on the injured list with a left oblique strain, collided with leftfielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa as both players pursued a flare to shallow left-center that wound up dropping for an RBI single. It appeared as if Bader took a cleat to the head in the collision.

“I was a little nervous when I popped up,” said Bader, who thought he might have suffered a concussion.

But Bader passed concussion protocol “with flying colors,” joking that he got his name  and the team he played for correct but wasn’t sure on the date. Then again, that’s something he’s never completely sure of during the grind of the 162-game regular season (not unusual for players, coaches and managers).

Bader said he hasn’t yet watched a replay of the collision and doesn’t plan to do so, but he knows this much: “I got pretty lucky.”

Peraza hobbled

Aaron Boone said Oswald Peraza, also injured in Wednesday’s ninth inning when he rolled his ankle after pinch running for Anthony Rizzo, is day-to-day, though it didn’t sound as if the infielder will be playing much, if at all, in this series.

“He’s doing well, the swelling’s getting better,” Boone said. “He actually came out here [the field] and moved around a little bit. We’ll kind of keep monitoring him day-to-day and see if we can up his [workload] all weekend.”

Judge back Tuesday?

Aaron Judge (right hip strain) did some light running and agility work earlier in the day at the club’s minor-league complex in Tampa. Boone said the plan is for Judge, who also hit indoors and threw in the outfield, to return to the lineup Tuesday for the second game of a three-game series against Oakland.

Erik Boland started in Newsday’s sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.