The Yankees averted disaster when Aaron Judge was drilled by a 94 mph four-seam fastball from Baltimore’s Albert Suarez on Tuesday night, with imaging coming back negative, but Judge was still held out of Wednesday’s 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Orioles at the Stadium.
Aaron Boone called the injury “day-to-day” after Judge was yanked from Tuesday’s game in the fourth inning.
Judge and Boone discussed the possibility of Judge starting on Wednesday, but Boone made the decision to play it safe, with a potential return to the lineup “hopefully” Thursday, according to the manager.
“I think we both came in [Wednesday] a little open to it,” Boone said of the idea that Judge could be in the lineup. “Ultimately, I said, ‘I think you should take the day.’”
And Judge clearly wasn’t available off the bench, as he wasn’t used as a pinch hitter for Jahmai Jones with the tying run at first to end the game.
Boone called Thursday a “maybe” for Judge and called Wednesday’s off day not a bad thing in general.
“It doesn’t hurt in the grand scheme of things to also give him just a normal day since he’s banged up,’’ Boone said of Judge, who has played in as many games (74) as any Yankee other than Gleyber Torres this season. “Hope this serves his whole body well.”
Boone added Judge was able to take some swings in the cage prior to Wednesday’s game before the lineup was made.
“He was better [Wednesday] and got down there [in the cage] and swung a little bit, but it was definitely still pretty sore in there,’’ Boone said. “I don’t want him to go out there and compromise anything [and] fight through it and something bad happens.”
The Yankees have shown in the past they can ill afford a prolonged absence by Judge, whose foot injury a year ago eliminated any hope of a second-half run to the postseason.
After dealing with nearly half a season without Gerrit Cole, who returned Wednesday from the elbow inflammation that sidelined him since the spring, as well as the forearm discomfort from Juan Soto that gave the organization a scare, the Yankees are as whole now as they’ve been all year — or will be whenever Judge gets back.
But given the Yankees’ fears when Judge got hit Tuesday, they felt considerably better about their situation Wednesday.
Asked if there was “relief” when he got the news that the imaging came back negative Tuesday night, Boone said, “No doubt.”
Any game without Judge, though, puts the Yankees at a disadvantage.
Not only does the center fielder lead the majors in home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, OPS, extra-base hits, total bases and WAR among position players, according to FanGraphs, but Judge has done that after a mostly ugly April.
Over his previous 47 games, Judge has hit 22 homers and has an OPS of 1.385. No one in the majors has more than 14 homers or an OPS of over 1.085 over that span.
The Yankees learned again last year how valuable he is when they went just 19-24 without Judge from early June to late July and ended up missing the postseason for the first time since 2016.
Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
