The New York Yankees are beginning an important three-game series against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night, and they will finally have their best power hitter back in the lineup.
After he took part in a simulated game for the second straight day, the Yankees inserted Aaron Judge back into their lineup. He will bat second against Boston.
Aaron Judge returns to the #Yankees lineup: pic.twitter.com/IDENp1GwYs
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) September 18, 2018
Judge took batting practice over the weekend and said he was getting very close to returning, but there was some belief that he would be held out until later in the week and possibly the weekend. The slugger was hit on the hand by a pitch on July 23 and was initially supposed to miss three weeks, but he ended up missing two months.
Judge is hitting .285 with a .947 OPS this season. The Yankees are currently 11.5 games back in the AL East with 13 games remaining, but they are looking to secure home-field advantage for the wild card game. They have a 1.5-game lead over the Oakland Athletics in the wild card heading into Tuesday night.
