It’s still not clear when New York Yankees star Aaron Judge will make his return to the outfield, but he took a significant step in that direction on Sunday.
Judge threw to bases at Yankee Stadium on Sunday for the first time since he went down with a flexor strain in his right arm earlier this month. Judge threw balls from about 150 feet out ahead of the Yankees’ matchup with the Boston Red Sox.
As for when he’ll be fully recovered and back in the outfield, though, neither he nor manager Aaron Boone had a clear answer.
“The bottom line is we want to do this the right way,” Boone said, via ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. “And as much as he wants to be out there and we want him out there, we’ve got to make sure we want to do everything possible to put ourselves in the best position to not reinjure this.”
Judge has been the Yankees’ designated hitter since he came off the injured list on Aug. 5, and Giancarlo Stanton has taken his place in right field.
Judge entered Sunday’s series finale with the Red Sox with a league-high .326 batting average with 40 home runs and 92 RBIs. His production has been down significantly since he transitioned into the designated hitter role, however. He’s held just a .218 batting average over that span.
The Yankees took a 69-60 record into Sunday’s matchup, too. They’ve lost three straight to the Red Sox, which snapped a five-game win streak, and they are in third in the AL East standings whild holding onto a wild card spot.
Though it’s unknown when Judge will get to return to the outfield — he said Sunday that he’s still not feeling 100%, and that he was still undergoing “quite a bit” of treatment — his presence should make quite the difference for the Yankees as they enter the last stretch of the regular season. He just has to get there first.
“I’m a ballplayer,” Judge said. “I want to play both sides of the ball and go out there, making plays on defense, helping my team out. I know hitting’s important and all that, but I feel like I can impact this team on both sides, so I can’t wait to get back out there.”
Dalton Rushing connects for a three-run home run in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ 8-2 win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Sunday. (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
Dave Roberts sought the best of both worlds from his slumping Dodgers offense Sunday.
More competitive at-bats, a more disciplined two-strike approach, and a renewed team-first mindset at the plate on the one hand.
But also, amid a two-month funk that dropped them to second place in the National League West, to not abandon the slugging prowess that makes them who they are.
“I want my cake, and [to] eat it as well,” the Dodgers manager quipped.
“I’d be shocked,” he added, “if we don’t see a different offensive output from here forward, starting today.”
Indeed, everything the Dodgers were missing in their first two games against the San Diego Padres this weekend — when they combined for just two runs and five hits to relinquish their place atop the division standings — came roaring suddenly back when the club needed it most.
In a sweep-evading 8-2 win over the Padres at Petco Park on Sunday, the Dodgers got back to working better at-bats, manufacturing consistent baserunners, then pouncing on mistakes with their lineup’s trademark pop.
The biggest swings came in a five-run seventh inning, when Dalton Rushing broke a 2-2 tie with a three-run home run to right and Freddie Freeman hit his second long ball of the day to put the score out of reach.
But all along, they displayed the progress Roberts had promised in his pregame address with reporters; following up two of their worst offensive displays of the season, with a nine-hit, four-walk, eight -run outburst that drew them back into a first-place tie with the Padres (74-57).
Freddie Freeman, right, is congratulated by third base coach Dino Ebel after hitting a home run in the sixth inning Sunday. (Derrick Tuskan / Associated Press)
In their losses on Friday and Saturday, the Dodgers’ problems had been simple. They didn’t adjust to a Padres pitching staff that attacked them carefully. They didn’t grind with two strikes, or shorten up their swings, or do enough little things to unlock their long-scuffling offense (which led the majors in scoring through June, but had ranked 24th in the two months since).
“We haven’t really been in-sync,” Roberts said. “It’s been disjointed a lot, as far as the offense.”
When asked if that meant his team needed to adopt more of a small-ball mentality, however, Roberts pushed back.
“I think it’s a fair question,” he said. “But I couldn’t disagree more.”
After all, his team is still stocked full of All-Stars, MVPs and future Hall of Famers. At their core, they are a team built to bludgeon opponents — not slap singles and drop down sacrifice bunts.
“Slugging is still a part of it,” he said. “I definitely don’t want guys to hit like I did.”
Around the margins, though, there were ways they could better position themselves to do that. Such as trying to work better counts, stay alive with two strikes when needed, and striking a better balance between patience and aggression.
“When you can kind of play, knowing you have people around you, where your goal is just to win — versus, my goal is just to be good myself individually, that’s pressure,” he said. “But when you feel like [you are doing] whatever little thing I can do to help a team, an offensive unit, that’s freeing. So that was some of the conversations that I’ve had with the guys, trying to relay that message.”
The change started in the first inning, with the Dodgers putting Padres starter Nick Pivetta under immediate stress.
Shohei Ohtani drew a five-pitch leadoff walk. Mookie Betts shortened up his swing on an 0-and-2 slider to line a single up the middle. Freddie Freeman loaded the bases by grinding out a full-count free pass.
It was a string of small victories that provided cleanup hitter Teoscar Hernández the perfect chance to slug.
Hernández tried to, getting a fastball over the plate in a 3-and-1 count and launching a deep flyball that seemed destined to be a grand slam. The drive, however, hung up just enough for Ramón Laureano to rob it at the wall.
The sacrifice fly brought in the Dodgers’ only run of the inning — giving them a 1-0 lead that would soon be erased on Elias Díaz’s two-run homer in the third off Yoshinobu Yamamoto (the only runs he gave up in a six-inning start).
Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Padres in the first inning Sunday. (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
But it set the tone for a flurry of offense that would follow later in the afternoon, when a weekend of non-existent offense finally started to turn.
In the sixth, Freeman hit his first home run, crushing another center-cut fastball from Pivetta to right-center for a tying blast.
Then, against Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada in the seventh, the club put all the pieces together in a five-run rally.
Andy Pages rolled a single through the left side to lead off. Michael Conforto came up next, fouled off a full-count slider, then took a borderline fastball at the top of the zone for a stress-inducing walk.
Miguel Rojas couldn’t get a bunt down after that, eventually swinging away for a flyout to center.
But, in what was easily his best moment of a trying rookie season, Rushing delivered the decisive blow seven pitches later — fouling off his own two-strike slider before clobbering another to right for a go-ahead three-run shot.
Freeman tacked on two more insurance runs before the inning was through, landing his second long ball of the day into the Petco Porch down the right-field line. Ohtani got in on the action in the ninth, belting his 45th homer to right to put the game — and another weekend of offensive frustration — to bed.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided some updates prior to Sunday’s series finale against the Red Sox…
Volpe benched
Jose Caballero is in the Yankees’ lineup at shortstop over Anthony Volpe for Sunday’s meeting in the Bronx.
It’s been a rough season for the young shortstop on both sides of the ball.
Volpe has just eight hits over his last 18 games and has struck out 18 times over that span.
He’s also committed a league-high 16 errors is an ugly -7 Outs Above Average (fourth percentile in MLB).
Aaron Boone hinted it was a possible following Saturday’s loss, and now he makes it official.
“He’s just scuffling a little offensively over the past week,” the skipper said. “Having Caballero now he gives you that real utility presence where he can play anywhere including short, and the spark that he provides so we just felt today was a good day for that.”
Boone wouldn’t rule out Volpe sitting again for Monday’s series opener against the Nats.
“We’ll see, I haven’t made any definitive decision yet,” he said. “I just want to get through today and do everything we can to get a win tonight and we’ll see where we’re at heading into tomorrow.”
Cruz set to return
Fernando Cruz is officially set to be activated from the IL on Monday.
Cruz has been sidelined since late June with a left oblique strain.
He has appeared in three minor league rehab games, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out four.
Now that he’s back, the righty should be in the mix for high-average innings.
Prior to the injury, Cruz pitched to a 3.00 ERA across 32 appearances.
“He’s been super productive for us and a such an important part,” Boone said. “He’s just a great person and competitor — he’s willing to take the ball in so many different areas, so I’m looking forward to getting him back.”
The Mets had a chance to pick up some big momentum on Sunday.
After dropping the final two games against the Nationals, they received strong pitching performances and the offense exploded as they were able to blow past the Braves in the first two games of their weekend set.
David Peterson then took the mound in the series finale in Atlanta and he worked his way through five efficient innings before struggling in a rough bottom of the sixth.
Atlanta was able to even things up and the Mets couldn’t come up with the big hit from there.
Juan Soto had a clutch RBI single in the top of the ninth, but a pair of pop outs stranded the go-ahead run on base as Jurickson Profar’s eighth inning two-run single ended up being the difference in the series finale.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done today,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Whether we have the lead or we’re trailing we have to be able to finish ballgames — the little things that we aren’t doing right now just continue to add up on us.
“Led 2-0 in the sixth, but we didn’t get much going after the [Mark] Vientos homer. We had a couple of chances and didn’t get the big hit and they got the big hit. But we won the series here and we have as good team coming up so we have to be ready tomorrow.
That big team? The NL East leading Phillies.
The division rivals come into Citi Field for a three-game set starting on Monday.
After Sunday’s frustrating loss, the Mets now sit a season-high 7.0 games behind Philadelphia.
Still, they feel like they are in a good spot heading into the huge set.
“We’ve had a good couple of games,” Peterson said. “The guys are excited to head back home and we’ve got a good opponent coming in and a familiar one, so we just have to be ready to go and continue moving forward one game at a time.”
Aaron Judge has officially taken the next step in his throwing program.
The Yankees star is still feeling the effects of the flexor strain suffered in his right arm earlier this season, but he was able to throw to bases for the first time on Sunday afternoon.
Aaron Boone called it a good step, but Judge remains without a potential timeline for a return to the outfield as the team continues taking the cautious approach.
“He continues to improve,” the skipper said. “As far as when, I don’t know — the bottom line is we want to do this the right way. As much as he wants to be out there and we want him out there, we want to make sure we do everything to put ourselves in the best position to not reinjure this.
“So as the progression goes his body will tell us, but it was definitely another good step forward.”
Judge landed on the IL on July 27, but he’s been able to return to DH duties for the past 11 games.
With him limited the oft-injured Giancarlo Stanton has been forced to slide into more of a regular outfield role for the first time since late in the 2023 season.
Stanton has looked strong out there thus far, and Boone didn’t rule out the possibility of the two splitting time when Judge is eventually ready to return to the field.
“It’ll come down to how does it look, how is he responding, how is he bouncing back each day,” he said. “It may still be a shared thing, I think it’s tough to answer that at this point.”
