Aaron Boone told reporters that Aaron Judge would likely have a day off in the near future after he was pulled in the bottom of the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s win, and the slugger was indeed left out of the lineup on Wednesday.
Judge, who Boone described as dealing with “lower body soreness,” hit a home run on Tuesday night but was pulled from the game after he struck out in the top of the ninth. He remained in the dugout for the bottom of the ninth and was stretching on the field with the team on Wednesday afternoon.
“He’s doing pretty well, just getting his treatment today,” Boone said before Wednesday’s game in Baltimore. “Would be available in a big enough spot to pinch hit or something. But kind of considered this the last couple of days but wanted to get through yesterday against the lefty, and knew today or tomorrow would be a day down for him.”
Judge didn’t take batting practice due to his soreness, but Boone did say that he would get some light work in to be prepared for a hopeful return to the lineup on Thursday.
Judge left a game earlier this month for what Boone described as an opportunity to get him rest, but it was later revealed that the oft-injured right fielder was dealing with “general side soreness,” which wound up keeping him out of the lineup for two games following his early exit. But this time around, Boone remains insistent that the soreness is nothing more than wear and tear of what is the first grueling stretch of the Yankees’ season.
“I knew it being April and this 13 games in a row stretch, this is a point in the schedule where all of our guys are going to get at least a day down,” Boone said. “So I guess there’s some of that, but more also I think he’s been a little sore the last couple days, so trying to be out in front of something, especially when we’re in a bit of a gruelling stretch, the first one of the season.”
Boone said that Judge would be starting on Thursday if all goes planned.
“My hope would be that he’d be in there tomorrow, but we’ll get through today and make sure he feels how he needs to feel going into tomorrow, a day game,” Boone said.
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