Aaron Judge’s next game for the New York Yankees will not occur for a while.
In the meantime, the Yankees hope they consistently can win without their superstar. They host the Boston Red Sox on Friday night after announcing that Judge will be out for at least four to six weeks with a stress fracture in his rib.
The Yankees are 7-3 in their past 10 games after avoiding a series sweep with Thursday’s 2-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians. Judge missed all three games with the injury, which was announced several hours after Ryan McMahon hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning.
“He’s the best hitter in the sport, so you know there’s a void there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But we also have really good players that can pick it up, too. I love the way we played the game today, but you’re not replacing Aaron Judge.”
Judge officially was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the first rib on his right side after the slugger underwent an MRI and CT scan. The Yankees said the injury will require rest and limited activity before he gets more testing in about four to six weeks to determine the level of healing and next steps.
Judge will endure a lengthy injured list stint for the first time since missing nearly two months with a fractured toe in 2023 when the Yankees went 19-23 en route to an 82-80 finish.
“You’re always going to miss Aaron Judge, but it’s on us. We’ve got to hold it down,” McMahon said. “We’ve got to find ways to win ballgames, and we might be doing some more stuff like that.”
With Judge out, the Yankees used Jose Caballero and Max Schuemann in right field. Besides Caballero and Schuemann, the Yankees may use Cody Bellinger in right field on occasion.
Boston scored three runs when it was swept by the Yankees April 21-23 in manager Alex Cora’s final home games. The Red Sox are 16-18 under interim manager Chad Tracy after allowing six runs in the first inning of an 8-2 home loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday afternoon.
Despite Willson Contreras hitting his 12th homer, the Red Sox are coming off getting held to three runs or fewer for the 34th time. They were unable to recover from Brayan Bello allowing six runs, though former Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle pitched two innings in his debut for Boston.
“I had a feeling,” Kahnle said. “I looked at the schedule and I went, ‘Of course.’ It’s going to be the same thing. This time I’ll be on the opposite side of this rivalry. So, I’m pretty excited to see that.”
Ryan Weathers (2-3, 3.52 ERA) opens the series for the Yankees and makes his first career appearance against Boston. The left-hander is coming off a frustrating outing that saw him get 10 strikeouts but also five runs in Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the Athletics.
Sonny Gray (6-1, 3.06), who struggled in his one-plus season with the Yankees, will take the mound for the Red Sox. Gray is 4-0 with a 2.00 ERA in five starts since returning from a hamstring injury and earned the win Saturday in Cleveland by allowing one run on four hits in six innings.
The right-hander is 2-3 with a 4.15 ERA in eight career starts against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
