ARLINGTON — Aaron Judge left Thursday’s game early with right hip discomfort, casting a shadow over an otherwise tidy 4-2 win by the Yankees against the Texas Rangers.
Judge felt a grab in his hip before he left in the fourth inning, a day after he slid awkwardly into third base during a win against the Minnesota Twins.
“Woke up this morning and you kind of feel a little bit more of what happened,” Judge said after the game. “Culmination of having that and a couple swings today [and] really couldn’t get it loose. You feel a little something there in the second at-bat, and best to shut it down and try to reevaluate and see here in a couple days.”
Judge struck out twice before being replaced in right field by Oswaldo Cabrera. He managed to stay in Wednesday’s game after the slide, which also left his right hand banged up.
The injury put a damper on Judge’s first game at Globe Life Field in Arlington since he slugged his 62nd home run of the 2022 season there on Oct. 4 to set a new American League record.
He’s unsure if he’ll play again during the four-game series against the Rangers.
“You don’t want to come out of any game, but I’m not too concerned about it,” Judge said.
The Yankees haven’t planned any tests for Judge’s hip and will reassess his condition Friday, said Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
“I felt like I noticed it on the swing and so I was kind of paying attention to it,” Boone said. “I just wanted to get him out of the game.”
The Yankees didn’t need any offense from Judge to topple Texas, with ace Gerrit Cole continuing his torrid start to the season with another strong outing. He allowed two runs across 6.2 innings, punching out eight in his first start in Arlington since setting the Yankees single-season strikeout record of 257 there during the same game as Judge’s historic homer.
Cole improved to 5-0, and his season ERA rose slightly to 1.11.
“It comes from my teammates, it comes from our preparation, and it comes from just being in a good spot to execute a lot of pitches,” Cole said of his early-season dominance.
His only trouble came in the sixth inning, when the Rangers loaded the bases against him with nobody out. The right-hander struck out Adolis Garcia and got Jonah Heim to ground into a force out that almost turned into a double play, had Cole fielded a throw at first base. Ezequiel Duran then added an RBI infield single.
Michael King collected the final seven outs to pick up his first save of the season.
DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres kicked off the Yankees scoring with back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning against Rangers starter Andrew Heaney, and Anthony Volpe added an RBI single later in the frame. Heaney pitched in 12 games for the Yankees in 2021, registering a 7.32 ERA.
Jose Trevino, whom the Yankees acquired from Texas before the 2022 season, homered in the ninth inning to add an insurance run.
The three-run second inning was the biggest bright spot for a Yankees lineup that’s struggled recently — other than its 12-run outburst in Wednesday’s win over Minnesota. Thursday marked the sixth time in seven games the Yankees scored four runs or fewer.
It won’t get any easier for the offense if Judge misses time. He leads the Yankees with six home runs and 14 RBI. The Yankees were already down fellow slugger Giancarlo Stanton, as well as starters Josh Donaldson and Harrison Bader.
Before Thursday’s game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone expressed confidence in the health of Judge’s hand.
“I considered giving him a day today, and I might in this series, but no, after talking through it with him and the trainers, and then once he was all right today, no, I feel good about it,” Boone said.
Judge also said he felt ready to go pre-game with a succinct, “Yeah, we’re good.”
()