MINNEAPOLIS — New York Yankees star right fielder Aaron Judge was pulled for a pinch hitter in the sixth inning Wednesday because of tightness in his lower right leg, a precautionary move after an injury he characterized as a normal occurrence soon after a long layoff.
Judge, who was on the bench Tuesday for planned rest, struck out in both of his at-bats against Minnesota starter Zebby Matthews before being replaced by Heliot Ramos. Judge had to run to the gap to track down a double in the fifth inning, his last action in the field, but he didn’t show any sign of slowness on that play. He said he felt the discomfort while playing in the field in the first inning.
The three-time AL MVP is 4 for 26 with 13 strikeouts and one extra-base hit in seven games since returning last week from a broken rib.
“We’re still trying to ramp up so there’s still going to be little things like this that come up,” Judge said after the Yankees lost 5-4 to the Twins in 13 innings. “I just thought it would be best instead of pushing through it like I normally do.”
Judge said he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what happened to trigger the injury, which he declined to specify.
“I tried to kind of play it off and see how it would go because these games are important down the stretch, but after kind of talking it over I thought it would be the right move to come out so we don’t cost the team on the field or cost the team on the basepaths,” Judge said.
Judge homered in the series opener at Minnesota on Monday, when the Yankees clinched a postseason spot. They entered Wednesday trailing AL East leader Tampa Bay by 3 1/2 games. The Yankees are off Thursday before starting a three-game series Friday at Arizona and hosting the Rays in a four-game division-race showdown beginning next Tuesday.
“I feel like you deal with this every spring training,” Judge said. “Usually at the start of the season once you start ramping up again this pops up, and that’s where we’ve been thankful this whole time coming back nothing’s really nagged us. So hopefully it’s just one little thing and we’re back out there soon.”
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