Yankees' Aaron Judge Kept Out of Lineup With Sore Left Side

NEW YORK — Less than 24 hours ago, Yankees fans were on cloud nine when it comes to Aaron Judge.

The slugger had helped carried the Yankees to victory with his best performance of the season, homering for the second game in a row. It looked like the superstar was finding his rhythm, poised to produce some jaw-dropping numbers over the first few weeks of the season.

Now, that excitement has turned into concern.

Judge is out of New York's lineup Wednesday night with a sore left side, Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed a few hours before first pitch. 

According to the skipper, Judge first felt some soreness in his side during the game on Tuesday night. When those feelings carried through the ninth inning and into the night, Boone made the decision to give Judge a day of rest before New York's off day on Thursday.

"It's just something we're trying to stay ahead of and don't want to push through anything right now," Boone said. "I think it's just been just the general wear and tear of the first several days."

Judge had played in each of the Yankees' first five games to start the regular season, serving as the club's designated hitter in one of those contests. Boone believes the soreness resonated from taking a lot of swings early on and it's not necessarily something that can be traced back to one specific moment.  

"With the off day tomorrow, I didn't want to take any chances," Boone said.

Judge had his best game of the year thus far on Tuesday night, going 3-for-5 with a booming three-run home run into the bleachers in left. Each of his three hits came off his bat with exit velocities north of 109 mph. 

He didn't just play well on Tuesday night. Judge is hitting .364 (8-for-22) through those first five games, posting an OPS of 1.028 in that span. 

As for the slugger's next steps, Judge will take it easy over the next two days before New York kicks off its first road trip of the year against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. That said, he'll still move around on Wednesday with his teammates. There's even a slight chance that he could be available to come off the bench against Baltimore in a "big spot," Boone said. 

"He'll be doing treatment, he's gonna be out there stretching and getting ready to go," Boone explained. "We'll limit him as far as swings and stuff and just see if we want to have him available late in the game for big spot or something. Try and limit him a little, but he's gonna get out there and work and stretch and move around."

Judge has battled a variety of injuries over the last three years since he played 155 games in 2017, when he won the AL Rookie of the Year award, finished second for the AL MVP and slugged 52 homers. He reworked his offseason regimen, mixing in more yoga with his weight lifting, hoping that would help keep him on the field.

Boone didn't seem too concerned as he delivered this injury update, but with Judge's track record, it's hard to not to wonder if this will result in a stint on the injured list. For now, Judge will not undergo any testing.

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