New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge claimed to be ready to go for Wednesday night's game against the Baltimore Orioles after getting plunked in the hand by a fastball Tuesday. After Judge himself grinned and reported that his X-rays and CT scans came back negative, the five-time All-Star seemed like a shoo-in to take the field Wednesday.
However, New York will sit him for precautionary measures, via YES Network's Meredith Marakovits.
“Aaron Judge is not in tonight’s lineup … [manager Aaron] Boone said he considers him day to day,” Marakovits tweeted. “Said Judge’s hand is still pretty sore but noted he that he took some swings in the cage today #yankees.”
Judge had previously told Boone that he wanted to play and was good to go, via MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. However, the Yankees elected to play it safe, as it's not worth risking their captain's health for one game in June.
All eyes will now be on Wednesday night's starting pitchers, particularly New York ace Gerrit Cole. Not only is it the reigning Cy Young Award winner's season debut, but fans have been speculating whether or not he'll retaliate on his teammates' behalf. Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres also got hit in the hand by a pitch Tuesday.
Additionally, Cole has a reputation of getting heated over these types of conflicts. The former Houston Astro yelled at Toronto Blue Jays hurler Alek Manoah when he drilled Judge in the arm with a heater in 2022, via Jomboy Media.
Aaron Judge had words for Alek Manoah and Gerrit Cole was quick to come out of the dugout
At the same time, though, New York can't get too distracted from the main mission, which is maintaining its slim lead over Baltimore in the AL East.
Will Cole drill an Oriole or two, or will he keep the peace?
Don't be surprised if Cole avenges the Yankees' leader
Baseball teams have been petty about hit-by-pitches since the game's inception. Major league pitchers have excellent command of their pitches, so whenever they hit or get close to hitting multiple batters in the same game, it always raises eyebrows.
What's unusual in this case is that both Judge and Torres got hit in the same place. This shows that Baltimore pitchers like to go up and in as a pitching tactic, which is fair. However, they can't be mad if the Yankees hit back.
With both teams vying for the division crown, there's clearly no love lost between them. The only guarantee is an entertaining conclusion to the series with these next two games.
