Yankees hoping Aaron Judge can play Thursday after hand injury forced him out o

ymakerpi8d

The Yankees averted disaster when Aaron Judge was drilled by a 94 mph four-seam fastball from Baltimores Albert Suarez on Tuesday night, with imaging coming back negative, but Judge was still held out of Wednesdays at the Stadium.  Aaron Boone called the injury day-to-day after Judge was .  Judge and Boone discu sed the po sibility of Judge starting on Wednesday, but Boone made the decision to play it safe, with a potential return to the lineup hopefully Thursday, according to the manager.  Aaron Judge gets looked at by Yankees trainer after getting hit in the hand.  Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post  I think we both came in [Wednesday] a little open to it, Boone said of the idea that Judge could be in the lineup. Ultimately, I said, I think you should take the day.  And Judge clearly wasnt available off the bench, as he wasnt used as a pinch hitter for Jahmai Jones with the tying run at first to end the game.  Explore More  Boone called Thursday a maybe for Judge and called Wednesdays off day not a bad thing in general.  It doesnt hurt in the grand scheme of things to also give him just a normal day since hes banged up, Boone said of Judge, who has played in as many games (74) as any Yankee other than Gleyber Torres this season. Hope this serves his whole body well.  Boone added Judge was able to take some swings in the cage prior to Wednesdays Bryan Ramos Jersey  game before the lineup was made.  He was better [Wednesday] and got down there [in the cage] and swung a little bit, but it was definitely still pretty sore in there, Boone said. I dont want him to go out there and compromise anything [and] fight through it and something bad happens.  The Yankees have shown in the past they can ill afford a prolonged absence by Judge, whose foot injury a year ago eliminated any hope of a second-half run to the postseason.  After dealing with nearly half a season without Gerrit Cole, from the elbow inflammation that sidelined him since the spring, as well as the that gave the organization a scare, the Yankees are as whole now as theyve been all year  or will be whenever Judge gets back.  But given the Yankees fears when Judge got hit Tuesday, they felt considerably better about their situation Wednesday.  Asked if there was relief when he got the news that the imaging came back negative Tuesday night, Boone said, No doubt.  Aaron Judge gets hit in the hand.  JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST  Any game without Judge, though, puts the Yankees at a disadvantage.  Not only does the center fielder lead the majors in home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, OPS, extra-base hits, total bases and WAR among position players, according to FanGraphs, but Judge has done that after a mostly ugly April.  Over his previous 47 games, Judge has hit 22 homers and has an OPS of 1.385. No one in the majors has more than 14 homers or an OPS of over 1.085 over that span.  The Yankees learned again last year how valuable he is when they went just 19-24 without Judge from early June to late July and ended up mi sing the postseason for the first time since 2016.  Martin Maldonado Jersey