Judge back in lineup at DH for Yankees

ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Judge is back in the lineup as the designated hitter for the New York Yankees following a 10-day stint on the injured list with a flexor tendon strain in his right elbow. There's still no clarity on when the All-Star slugger will return to the outfield. Judge batted third in the middle game of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday. Manager Aaron Boone said Judge is supposed to start a throwing program Wednesday. Boone all but ruled out Judge returning to the outfield as early as the next couple of days. "I don't want to get ahead of myself," Boone said. "See how that first day goes. From there, we'll probably have a better idea after a day or two of that." Judge didn't speak to reporters in the clubhouse before the game, but Boone said the leading hitter in the majors came away from a trip to the team's spring training facility in Tampa, Florida, ready to swing the bat — and test the capabilities of his arm. "I think he's been pretty upbeat about it," Boone said. "I think down in Tampa, did a lot of things. Didn't throw, but did a lot of things in kind of preparation for that throwing. So far, so good. So hopefully when he does start that throwing program, it goes well and he can progress fairly quickly." Judge hasn't played since July 25 because of the elbow strain. A 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. 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. Judge entered Tuesday night's game hitting .342 and was fourth in the majors with 37 homers and fifth with 85 RBI. New York's loss in the series opener at Texas was the club's fourth in a row, and the Yankees have fallen to third place in the AL East behind Toronto and Boston. They were in first place to start July, but started Tuesday 5 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays, currently holding a wild-card spot 2 1/2 games behind the Red Sox. "Hopefully it's the start of something really good," Boone said of Judge's return. Judge's return was part of a bevy of roster moves, headlined by the Yankees sending reliever Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre just five days after acquiring the right-hander from Colorado before the trade deadline. Bird allowed seven runs — six earned — in two innings over his first three appearances with the Yankees, capped by Josh Jung's three-run homer in the 10th inning of the Rangers' 8-5 victory in the series opener. "I think he got quite a bit of work there in the first half, a lot of success," Boone said. "And he's had some struggles lately. We still think really highly of him and think he's not only going to help us this year in the short term but certainly in the long term, too. So hopefully this is something that does give him that little bit of a reset." The Yankees put newly acquired outfielder Austin Slater on the IL with a left hamstring strain. Slater, traded by the Chicago White Sox last week, exited in the second inning Monday after running out a fielder's choice grounder. New York 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. Giancarlo Stanton, who has been the Yankees' starting DH for all of his 32 games this season, was displaced by Judge in the lineup. His 10th homer was a two-run shot in the fourth Monday that gave the Yankees a 5-4 lead over the Rangers. He missed the first 70 games of the season with inflammation in the tendons of both elbows. "That's the tough part," Boone said. "G's been in such a good place now for really most of the time he's been back. Just feel like he's putting together real consistent at-bats where he's a real threat all the time. "That'll be tough to navigate these first few days."