Aaron Judge was pulled early and his injury update was revealed as the New York Yankees fell in extra innings to the Minnesota Twins by a score of 5-4. While falling just short of the sweep stings, it all feels minuscule as the Bronx Bombers feared losing their best player right before the 2026 MLB postseason. Based on Aaron Boone’s initial reaction, that bullet may have been dodged. Judge eased the Yankees’ concerns with an encouraging injury update, too.
Still, it should serve as a wake-up call for New York. Moving forward, Yankees manager Boone laid out a clear work plan for Judge, who’s suffered a setback less than 10 days after his return from the 60-day injured list (IL). The fact that his latest issue has nothing to do with the previous lengthy stress fracture in his rib is, at the very least, alarming.
“Lower leg, yeah. [Judge] will get treatment and stuff. Obviously, already has had a lot of treatment. Treatment tomorrow and we’ll see what we got,” Boone said about Judge’s injury in the mid-innings against the Twins on Wednesday afternoon.
Judge speaks on injury
Although it was Judge himself who told Boone and the Yankees’ medical team about the tightness in his lower body midway through the series finale against the Twins, the three-time MVP admitted it wasn’t until after a while of testing things out that he decided enough was enough.
Manager Aaron Boone #17 of the New York Yankees walks.
“[I first felt something in my lower leg] there in the first inning,” Judge said, via YES Network. “I tried to kind of play it off and see how long it’d go because this game was very important down the stretch. Talked it over, thought it’d be the right move to come out so we don’t cost the team. I didn’t want to cost the team down the road. I can’t pinpoint it [to a certain play or movement.]”
Luckily for New York and Judge, he didn’t aggravate anything, but the fact that he was still out there in the field and at the plate while dealing with an announced discomfort is less than ideal. Things could have ended much worse for the Yankees, and they still have yet to run tests and hear the results on Judge’s right-leg injury. That is if Judge even goes through evaluations.
Will Judge be sidelined?
According to Boone’s postgame comments, that remains pretty much up in the air. For the time being, New York is confident it has avoided a serious injury, but a brief hiatus in Judge’s return may still be in order.
“I don’t know [if Judge will miss games]. We’ll see. We have an off day tomorrow, so I’m not going to speculate one way or the other,” Boone commented.
The Yankees’ next game is on Sept. 18 when they start a brand-new, three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on the road. It will be the Pinstripers’ last road trip of the 2026 MLB regular season before a seven-game homestand at Yankee Stadium to close out the campaign.
