NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees captain Aaron Judge will go on the injured list with a flexor strain in his right elbow, but a scan showed no damage to the ulnar collateral ligament of the two-time AL MVP.
Manager Aaron Boone said Judge will have 10 days to two weeks of no throwing and will be the designated hitter at first when he returns. Giancarlo Stanton, the team’s primary DH, will start to work out in the outfield.
“All in all, we got good news today,” Boone said after Saturday’s 9-4 loss to Philadelphia. “I think all of us kind of feared the worst.”
Judge was sent for an MRI Saturday morning and was out of the starting lineup for just the second time this season.
He leads the major leagues with a .342 batting average and 1.160 OPS. He has 37 home runs and 85 RBIs for a New York team that opened a seven-game AL East lead by late May but started Saturday a season-high 5 1/2 games back of first-place Toronto.
Judge winced at Toronto on Tuesday after catching Alejandro Kirk’s seventh-inning fly in the right-field corner and throwing to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. as Dante Bichette tagged up and went from second to third. Judge was seen by a YES Network camera clenching his right hand in a fist.
“He had a throw in Toronto where it zinged him, it hurt,” Boone said.
Judge was the DH the following day in Wednesday’s series finale, which Boone said then was planned. He was in right field for Friday’s series-opening 12-5 loss to Philadelphia.
“Felt like he was fine on the off day and then just last night was really dealing with it,” Boone said. “He couldn’t really throw well from the outfield.”
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