As promised, Aaron Judge is back in the Yankees lineup Friday night.
After sitting out the past two games with what manager Aaron Boone termed “lower-body soreness,” Judge was set to be back in right field and batting third as the Yankees opened a homestand by hosting the Tigers at Yankee Stadium.
“Definitely keep an eye on him, but look forward to him getting back in there for us tonight, certainly,” Boone said.
The vague injury popped up Tuesday when Boone pulled Judge in the ninth inning of a win over the Orioles. Boone said Judge was “beat up,” and then kept him out of the lineup for the next two games. Judge did get into Thursday’s loss to the Orioles as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, but struck out.
It was the second time this season that Judge has missed consecutive games with an unspecified injury, the last one being described as “side soreness” that kept him out of the lineup for two games earlier in April.
Boone said he would continue to keep tabs on Judge’s health moving forward.
Aaron Judge sat out the past two games with “lower-body soreness.” Charles Wenzelberg/NY Post“You monitor it I guess a little more closely,” Boone said. “With that being said, I think Aaron and with all of our guys, you’re trying to monitor things as closely as you can.”
Friday marked the first MLB game this season played with neither dugout or bullpen being required to wear masks. Both the Yankees and Tigers have hit MLB’s 85 percent threshold for Tier 1 personnel being fully vaccinated, which relaxes some of the COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Wandy Peralta, acquired from the Giants on Tuesday in a trade for Mike Tauchman, made his Yankees debut with a perfect eighth inning on just six pitches, including a strikeout.
