New York Yankees' Aaron Judge runs the bases after hitting a solo home run off Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Heath Fillmyer during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, April 20, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge was sidelined Saturday with a “pretty significant strain” of his left oblique, team manager Aaron Boone said, and it will be several weeks before the team can even estimate when the slugger will return.
Boone said Sunday that Judge will need to rest and allow the injury to heal. Judge was hurt Saturday while swinging at a pitch against Kansas City.
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He became the Yankees’ 13th player on the disabled list and the 14th overall this season, joining Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Gary Sánchez, Didi Gregorius, Miguel Andújar and Greg Bird. Those six and Judge accounted for 175 of the team’s record 267 homers last year and 515 of the 821 RBIs.
Judge sustained a season-ending right oblique strain while fouling off a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sept. 13, 2016.
Infielder Thairo Estrada, the only remaining healthy position player on the 40-man roster, was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Estrada, recovered from a February 2018 gunshot wound sustained in Venezuela, would make his major league debut.
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Sánchez, out since April 10 with a strained left calf, is scheduled to play a rehabilitation game Monday with Class A Charleston and could be activated before Wednesday’s game at the Los Angeles Angels.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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