Superstar outfielder Aaron Judge is not in the New York Yankees’ lineup for their second game of a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles.
Read more: Yankees ‘Pissed Off’ at Orioles After Aaron Judge Injury; Will They Seek Revenge?
Judge, who exited Tuesday night’s game with an injury, will now miss the middle game of the series between the top two teams in the American League East.
Here’s the Yankees’ full lineup without Judge:
1. Anthony Volpe SS
2. Juan Soto RF
3. Giancarlo Stanton DH
4. Alex Verdugo LF
5. Gleyber Torres 2B
6. D.J. LeMahieu 3B
7. Ben Rice 1B
8. Jose Treviño C
9. Trent Grisham CF
Ed Zurga/Getty Images
Judge left Tuesday night’s game in the bottom of the fourth inning after getting hit by a 94-mph fastball on the hand. He provided an update to reporters after undergoing tests, saying everything came back negative and he wanted to be back in the lineup on Wednesday night.
Read more: Yankees’ Aaron Judge Provides Major Update on Injury
However, Yankees manager Aaron Boone clearly didn’t feel comfortable putting Judge back in the lineup just yet, so he’ll now miss his second game of the season.
Judge is in the midst of a sensational year, slashing .302/.428/.687 with 26 home runs, 64 runs batted in, 22 doubles, and an OPS of 1.115. He leads all of Major League Baseball with an fWAR (Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement) of 5.0, ahead of teammate Juan Soto and Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson, each at 4.7. Judge is the leading American League MVP candidate at this point in the season — but don’t tell him that.
Without Judge, the Yankees were able to take the first game of the series between the AL East rivals. The Yankees won 4-2, thanks to a dominant pitching performance by Nestor Cortes, who went six scoreless innings with six strikeouts. They extended their AL East lead over Baltimore to 2.5 games.
On Wednesday night, the Yankees will be welcoming back their ace, as Gerrit Cole makes his long-awaited return to the Yankee Stadium mound. Cole hasn’t pitched this season after he dealt with elbow nerve inflammation in spring training. However, he elected not to have surgery, and instead just waited out the pain.
The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner made three dominant rehab starts, sporting a 0.73 ERA in 12.1 innings with 19 strikeouts, and will now be back on the mound in a huge game.
First pitch for Wednesday night’s game is 7:05 p.m ET. Left-hander Cade Povich (0-1, 4.76 ERA), is starting for the Orioles against the Yankees’ Judge-less lineup.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
