Yankees don't play Aaron Judge as they fall to Pirates to begin final regular-season series
The Yankees’ Aaron Judge celebrates winning the American League East after defeating the Baltimore Orioles in an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
On the third-to-last day of the regular season, Aaron Judge rested.
Judge, who had homered in five straight games, did not play on Friday night as the AL East champion Yankees lost to the Pirates, 4-2, at Yankee Stadium.
Judge hit his 58th home run on Thursday night as the Yankees clinched the division title with a 10-1 victory over the Orioles.
It would take a feat of Ruthian (or Judgeian) proportions this weekend for Judge to threaten his own AL record of 62 home runs, which he set in 2022, even if he had started all three games.
When asked if he considered starting Judge on Friday just to give him a shot at 60, which is a nice round number, manager Aaron Boone said, “No.”
He added that Judge didn’t ask to be in the lineup to chase any individual accomplishment. “No,” Boone said. “He’s not playing for any of that.”
Judge went into the night with an outside chance of earning the American League Triple Crown. He led the majors in home runs and RBIs (144) and had a .325 batting average, which was tied for second in the AL with Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Guerrero went 2-for-4 on Friday and is hitting .326. Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. (1-for-3 with a walk) leads the AL with a .332 average.
Judge had played in all but two of the Yankees’ first 159 games and hadn’t sat out a game since June 20. Boone said he should be back in the lineup on Saturday. “He’ll play,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to get him a day off for about a month now. So finally get him one here.”
That will give Judge a chance to face Paul Skenes (11-3, 1.99 ERA, 167 strikeouts in 131 innings), who will face Luis Gil (15-6, 3.27 ERA, 166 strikeouts in 146 innings) in a battle of brilliant rookies.
After a career-high 16-game homerless streak, Judge had hit seven homers and driven in 18 runs in the previous 12 games entering Friday, putting together a .405/.569/1.054 slash line.
Regulars Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton and Austin Wells also did not play.
Bryan Reynolds’ two-run homer off Tommy Kahnle in the eighth snapped a 2-2 tie. Carlos Rodon was given a 2-0 lead on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s two-run single in the fifth, but in the sixth, Rodon allowed back-to-back homers by Nick Gonzalez and Reynolds before getting an out and departing his final start of the regular season. Rodon (16-9, 3.96) allowed 31 homers in 175 innings.
The one positional battle the Yankees have left going into the postseason is leftfield. Jasson Dominguez started in left with Alex Verdugo in right. Juan Soto was the designated hitter.
If Dominguez were playing competently in left, this would be a no-brainer: The rookie’s power potential likely would earn him the nod. But Dominguez has been so shaky that Boone replaced him for defense with Verdugo in the seventh inning in Thursday’s clincher. Verdugo later homered.
“I haven’t played a ton of games in leftfield,” Dominguez said on Wednesday after botching a ball down the line that fell behind him for a two-run single. “I feel like I can do it pretty much. Obviously, there’s things I need to work on. But I feel like, with more work, I will get there.”
Boone hasn’t ruled out a radical switch: Dominguez in center with Judge in right and Soto in left. It seems like moving a lot of pieces around just to get Dominguez’s bat into the lineup, especially given that Soto has started only six games in left this season.
The Yankees do have plenty of time to think about it. Their first AL Division Series game isn’t until Oct. 5 against an opponent to be determined.
Dominguez went 0-for-2 with two walks and two strikeouts on Friday. Verdugo was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
The Yankees’ magic number to earn the No. 1 spot in the AL playoffs was lowered to one when Cleveland lost to Houston. The Yankees are one game ahead with two games to play and hold a tiebreaker advantage over the Guardians.
It’s a nice thing to have for bragging rights but would come into play only if the Yankees meet Cleveland in the ALCS. Boone already has said he’d like to have the top AL seed but made it clear he’s not going to push his players too hard to secure it over final weekend.
“You’ve got to strike the balance between big picture and the day,” Boone said earlier this week. “Which, on some level, you’re doing all year. This time of year, obviously, with what’s at stake, there’s a little more of a light on that, but while also trying to keep guys — and multiple guys — in rhythm and involved and playing and sharp. You just weigh it as best you can.”
The Yankees will have to figure out how to avoid getting rusty during their five-day break before the ALDS begins. “That question’s never going to go away,” Boone said. “The debate of it’s never going to go away. There’s no right/wrong answer. We’ll prepare as best we can.”
Boone pointed out that the Yankees faced the same scenario in 2022 and beat Cleveland in the ALDS in five games.
DJ in play? DJ LeMahieu, who is on the injured list with a right hip impingement, is feeling better, Boone said, and has “put himself in the position to at least be an option” in the postseason.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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