SEATTLE -- New York Yankees star third baseman Alex Rodriguez fractured his left hand when he was hit by a pitch from Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez on Tuesday.

"It's a tough blow," a somber Rodriguez said about an hour after the Yankees' 4-2 loss.

Rodriguez's left hand was heavily wrapped, and he'll fly back with the team after Wednesday's game and be checked out by the Yankees' medical staff on Thursday.

"I never thought it was a fracture, but it was," said Rodriguez, who has been diagnosed with a nondisplaced fracture of his left fifth metacarpal.

Rodriguez grabbed his left hand with his right after being hit and never let go even as he fell to the ground, writhing on the dirt near home plate.

Eric Chavez, who will be the man manager Joe Girardi will have at third base in the series finale Wednesday afternoon, has been down this road before.

"They told me it would be six to eight weeks," Chavez said while recalling his own injury. "It was eight weeks to the day that I got back."

The fact that the Yankees have lost five of six to start this trip on the West Coast was nothing compared to the loss of the No. 3 hitter in the lineup for a couple of months.