The New York Yankees lost in extra innings to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, but the bigger story was Aaron Judge exiting the game early with lower right leg tightness.
Judge was replaced by Heliot Ramos in the top of the sixth inning. Judge said he started feeling some discomfort in the first inning and tried playing through it.
"Stuck out there for a couple innings," Judge said to reporters after the game. "Especially going into an off day tomorrow, I didn't think it was smart to push it too much here. Like I said, I didn't want to cost the team down the road, as that game was going."
The Yankees could have used Judge in the rest of that game, but they will need him more down the stretch and in October. The Yankees still have a slight chance of winning the American League East, with a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays coming up. Having Judge ready to go for that series outweighs keeping him out there in pain on Wednesday.
Even though the loss on Wednesday hurts the Yankees' chances of winning the division, the team would likely rather go into the postseason with a healthy Judge than without him at all.
Judge said he was not sure if he would go get testing, but "probably not." The Yankees can breathe a sigh of relief that their superstar did not suffer another serious injury.