Aaron Judge sits AGAIN with a sore hip for Yankees

New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge was left out of the lineup Friday after tests on his sore right hip.

Judge left the series opener Thursday in Texas due to right hip discomfort. He struckout in his only two at bats and was replaced in right field in the bottom of the fourth inning in his first game on the Rangers baseball field since hitting his AL season-record 62nd homer there last October.

“He just said he woke up and felt better today. So hopefully that’s an encouraging sign,” manager Aaron Boone said during pregame Friday. “But again, he’s going to the doctor here in a minute, so we’ll have a better idea.”

Boone said the test was on Judge’s hip, not his right hand.

There were no immediate updates from the Yankees by game time on the results. There were also no moves for the 26-man roster, although Jake Bauers was brought up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and went on the New York taxi team. Bauers hit .319 with nine home runs in 21 games.

“It was twofold, obviously to give us some attention, but he can come into play any way,” Boone said of the move with Bauers. “But we definitely wanted to put ourselves in a position to be covered just in case.”

Judge had a tricky head-first slide trying to steal a base in Minnesota’s second inning Wednesday. His shoulders hung forward in front of his arms and his right hand was caught in the dirt under the weight of his body. Without stopping he jogged out the window and through the tunnel to the clubhouse.

After staying in that game, Judge also started the opener in Texas on his 31st birthday, though he admitted in retrospect that he could never loosen up.

“Just the whole right side of the body when you have a pretty bad slide like that, you know, you kind of feel it the next day,” Judge said after the Yankees’ 4-2 victory in Texas.

New York already played without outfielders Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain) and Harrison Bader (left hypotenuse) and third baseman Josh Donaldson (right hamstring strain). All are on the injured list, along with six pitchers.