Aaron Judge, Clay Holmes capture monthly awards for Yankees

When Major League Baseball announced its American League player of the month and AL reliever of the month Friday, there was little in the way of surprise.

Aaron Judge captured the former and Clay Holmes the latter.

Judge had a .311/.378/.699 slash line in May, hitting 12 homers and adding 25 RBIs, 25 runs and four doubles in 27 games. Judge, who also won player of the month awards in June and September in his 2017 Rookie of the Year season, leads the big leagues in homers and slugging and ranks second in OPS.

Holmes, an under-the-radar acquisition at the trade deadline last year, won the May award for relievers after going 3-0 with four saves in 12 scoreless outings in which he struck out 15 and did not walk a batter in 14 innings. Holmes, 7-for-7 in save chances this season, has a 0.35 ERA in 24 games. He came into Friday with 25 consecutive scoreless innings, the longest in the majors this season.

“That sinker,” one longtime AL scout said, “is as good as anyone’s right now. It’s what [Zack] Britton’s looked like when he was at his peak.”

n  Yanks deal for Bauers

The Yankees acquired infielder-outfielder Jake Bauers from the Reds for cash considerations. Bauers, 26, has batted .213 with 27 homers and 110 RBIs in parts of three seasons with Tampa Bay (2018), Cleveland (2019, ’21) and Seattle (’21). In 29 games with Triple-A Louisville, the lefthanded hitter batted .135 (13-for-96) with three homers, 12 RBIs, 19 walks and four stolen bases.

n  Green has surgery

Chad Green underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow Wednesday in Arlington, Texas. The Yankees said the surgery went “as expected.”