The New York Yankees secured a 5-3 series-opening win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
It also marked the first game back for superstar Aaron Judge, who had been on the IL since late May with a stress fracture in his right rib.
Judge went 0-for-3 at the plate with two strikeouts before manager Aaron Boone pulled him in the seventh inning as a precaution. The Yankees are ramping him back up after he elected not to go on a rehab assignment.
Michael Kay Makes Statement on Judge
Prior to Wednesday’s game, Yankees announcer Michael Kay spoke about Judge’s return during a pregame interview with the YES Network and made an honest statement about how it’s going to take time for the three-time MVP to get back to form.
“Well I think that he’s starting behind the old eight ball. People keep saying it’s like the beginning of spring training. No it’s way before the beginning of spring training because when he was shutdown for most of the three months he was shutdown for he couldn’t lift, hit, he couldn’t throw, he couldn’t run,” Kay said.
“Now, when you ramp up for spring training. before you report to Tampa, you’re doing all of those things whenever you may be. So he is really starting from a lower level than a spring training level and the Yankees are hoping he can bet it going in the three weeks before the playoffs begin.”
.@RealMichaelKay joins @NancyNewmanYES to reflect on Aaron Judge’s return to the Yankees’ lineup on Tuesday, as well as Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s injury and Cam Schlittler’s 10 K performance against the Rockies. pic.twitter.com/mDrVbFF8eF
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 9, 2026
Judge Didn’t Want to Be Pulled by Boone
Despite the Yankees being cautious with Judge, he wanted to play the entire game Tuesday night and made that very clear after the game.
“I feel great. I played half a game,” Judge said. “Don’t know what to say about that.”
“I respect Booney” he added. “Whatever he says I’m going to do, but I’m not happy about it.”
Michael Kay Makes Honest Aaron Judge Statement After Yankees Return