Aaron Judge out of Yankees’ lineup vs. Orioles but day-to-day after HBP on hand

Aaron Judge was out of the New York Yankees’ starting lineup Wednesday against the Baltimore Orioles, one night after he was hit on the left hand by a pitch.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Judge was feeling better, though, and even took swings in the indoor batting cage.

“I think it’s day to day,” Boone said. “It was probably close today.”

Trent Grisham was set to replace Judge in center field and bat ninth. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was scheduled to make his season debut after recovering from a right elbow injury.

Judge was struck by a 94.1 mph fastball from Baltimore starter Albert Suárez during New York’s 4-2 win Tuesday night. The slugger left the game an inning later, but X-rays and a CT scan were negative, so it appears he avoided serious injury.

“Feeling better after I got some good news,” Judge said Tuesday night after returning to Yankee Stadium from New York–Presbyterian Hospital. “A big relief. Just being hit there before a couple of years ago and breaking the wrist, you never know what’s going to happen. So finding out that it’s not fractured, not broken, is definitely a sigh of relief.”

Judge missed 45 games with a broken right wrist after he was hit by a 93.4 mph pitch from Kansas City’s Jakob Junis on July 26, 2018.

Judge is batting .302 and leads the major leagues with 26 homers and 64 RBIs. The 32-year-old outfielder is a five-time All-Star and was the 2022 AL MVP after hitting 62 home runs to break the AL record of 61 by Roger Maris set in 1961.

Another big star, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Mookie Betts, broke his left hand Sunday when hit by a pitch from Dan Altavilla of the Kansas City Royals and is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

“Anytime you get hit by 94, 95 up and in like that and especially in the hands where there’s so many small bones,” Judge said, “you just never know what’s going to happen and what it’s going to be.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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