By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Baseball Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Aaron Judge was activated off the 10-day injured list by the New York Yankees on Tuesday, and their captain is set to return at the Texas Rangers after being sidelined because of a flexor strain in his right elbow.
Maybe the two-time AL MVP slugger can help get them back on track.
Manager Aaron Boone said after New York’s fourth consecutive loss, 8-5 to the Texas Rangers in 10 innings on Monday night, that Judge will be available for the middle game of the three-game series.
“Judge tomorrow,” Boone said, without elaborating when asked about his return.
While Boone didn’t reveal then what the specific plans were, he had said before the game that Judge would be the designated hitter when he first returned to the lineup. He said the outfielder could also play catch while in Texas, which will help determine when he could return to playing in the field.
A spot on the active roster cleared for Judge because newly acquired outfielder Austin Slater was placed on the IL with a left hamstring strain. Slater, traded by the Chicago White Sox last week, exited in the second inning Monday night after running out a fielder’s choice grounder.
The Yankees also activated right-hander Mark Leiter Jr., who has been out almost a month with a stress fracture in his leg. Right-hander Yerry de los Santos was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and right-hander JT Brubaker was designated for assignment.
After hitting off Yankees minor league pitchers at the team’s complex in Tampa for the second day in a row on Monday, Judge traveled to Texas and was there for the series opener. He didn’t speak to reporters in the clubhouse after the game.
Judge hasn’t played since July 25 because of the elbow strain. An MRI showed no acute damage to his ulnar collateral ligament and he had a platelet-rich injection July 27, when he was placed on the IL in a move retroactive to the previous day.
His .342 batting average was still the best in the majors after Monday’s games. He was fourth with 37 homers and fifth with 85 RBIs.
Giancarlo Stanton has been the Yankees’ starting DH for all of his 32 games this season, including the opener against the Rangers when his 10th homer was a two-run shot in the fourth that put the Yankees up 5-4. He missed the first 70 games of the season with inflammation in the tendons of both elbows, and Boone said he wouldn’t play the outfield in Texas if Judge does DH during the series.
The first time Judge said he felt pain in the elbow was July 22 at Toronto, after he made a strong throw home when George Springer singled to right. An inning later, Judge winced after catching a fly in the right-field corner and throwing to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. Judge was caught by a YES Network camera clenching his right hand in a fist.
The Yankees arrived in Texas after being swept in a three-game series at Miami and falling to third place in the AL East behind Toronto and Boston. They were in first place to start July, but are now 5 1/2 games behind the division-leading Blue Jays, and currently in a wild-card spot 2 1/2 games behind the Red Sox with 49 left in the regular season.
When asked if the current stretch, which includes an 18-28 record since June 13, was weighing on his team, Boone said he felt that it was.
“Doesn’t matter,” Boone said. “Nobody cares how stressful it is, or that’s all just noise, excuses, whatever. We’ve got to play better, and we’ve got to win, and we know that.”
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