Yankees star Aaron Judge was out of the lineup Saturday against Philadelphia and was sent for imaging of his right elbow, a worrying development for a team that has been sliding down the standings for two months.
“Obviously concerned,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll wait and see as they read the imaging.”
Boone wouldn’t speculate whether the injury involved Judge’s ulnar collateral ligament.
“Hopefully it’s something that is manageable and we can get through,” Boone said.
A two-time AL MVP, Judge 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 a designated hitter 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, then was out of the lineup for the second time this season.
“Felt like he was fine on the off day and then just last night was really dealing with it. He couldn’t really throw well from the outfield,” Boone said.
Boone said Yankees team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad was to read the imaging Saturday.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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