The New York Yankees held Aaron Judge out of the lineup Wednesday because of lower body tightness, with his status for a weekend series against the Boston Red Sox uncertain.
Judge was removed in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s 9-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Mike Tauchman was called on to pinch hit for Judge.
According to manager Aaron Boone, Judge’s discomfort could have been the result of four games on the artificial turn of Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field last weekend.
While Judge requested to play, Boone thought consecutive days of rest would be a benefit to his slugger. The Yankees have an off day Thursday before opening a three-game series with the Red Sox on Friday.
Asked if Judge would play Friday against the Red Sox, Boone was somewhat guarded saying, “I hope so, but in a lot of ways, that’s a long way from now.”
Judge is batting .290 this season and was leading baseball in home runs (nine) and tied for the lead in RBIs (20) at the start of play Wednesday. He is a career .274 hitter with 119 home runs and 266 RBIs over 413 games in five seasons.
