The New York Yankees welcomed Aaron Judge back on Tuesday night, but he did not play the entire game.
This is not a surprise, however. Aaron Boone noted that the plan was to build Judge back up after missing over three months with a fractured rib. He did not want to go on a rehab assignment, but the team still thinks it's important to ease him back into things. He got replaced by Heliot Ramos in the seventh inning, following a strikeout in the sixth inning.
"I feel great. I played half a game," Judge said after the game. "I don't know what to say about that."
"I respect him," Judge said when asked about the lengthy conversation he had with Boone before he was pulled. "Whatever he says I'm going to do, but I'm not happy about it."
Judge is supposed to get a day off against the Colorado Rockies in the next two days as well, so it's clear that the Yankees are not going to rush their superstar back into a full workload just because he feels good now. The Yankees are thinking about October, and having Judge ready for that is more important.
Ramos did produce a big moment after replacing Judge. He hit a three-run home run to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Those runs proved to be very important as the Rockies went on to plate two runs in the ninth inning.
Judge went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his first game since the end of May. His bat speed was encouraging, and the results should follow as he gets more at-bats.