Aaron Judge said he wants to return for next week’s wild-card series. Until he does come back, the slugger and the rest of the New York Yankees will be curious to see if slugger Ben Rice can homer again.
With four games remaining, Rice is among seven MLB players with at least 40 home runs, and he will attempt to continue his late-season surge Thursday night when New York hosts the Tampa Bay Rays, the American League East champion.
The Yankees (91-67) are assured of hosting the wild-card series and probably will face the Boston Red Sox for the second straight year. New York might be without Judge, who is dealing with a strained right calf after playing in seven games following being out with a fractured right rib.
On Monday, manager Aaron Boone described Judge’s strain as moderate and indicated he was not necessarily expecting the three-time American League MVP to be available. After the Yankees improved to 50-42 in games Judge has missed with Wednesday’s 9-2 rout of the Rays, the eight-time All-Star expressed confidence in his ability to return by next week.
“My goal is to come back as soon as I can,” Judge said. “If you ask me if I’m going to be back, I’m gonna tell you, yeah, I’m doing everything I can every single day I show up here to get back and be ready to go.”
Judge expressed confidence in his return after watching Rice hit a pair of solo homers on Wednesday, giving him 41 home runs in his second full season. Rice had three hits and a walk and is batting .349 with five homers in his past 12 games and .333 with seven homers and 17 RBIs in his past 27.
For the season, he is batting .263 with 97 RBIs after finishing with 26 homers, 65 RBIs and a .255 batting average last year.
“Each year, he’s gotten better,” Judge said of the 27-year-old. “Each month he’s gotten better. Even through bad slumps, he’s just making the reads and making the changes he needs to get back to his normal self. So it’s been fun to watch. He’s a complete player.”
Rice is hitting .381 against the Rays (96-62), who clinched the AL East with a 6-1 win over the Yankees on Tuesday night. After clinching, the Rays on Wednesday sat Yandy Diaz, who had a pair of two-run singles in the clincher.
Junior Caminero will be in the lineup to keep his streak of playing each game going but likely will be replaced after a few at-bats. Caminero took two at-bats and was lifted for a pinch hitter in the sixth.
“I just want to see good health and some guys freshened up,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “It’s been a long season. They’ve played really hard to get to this point. Let’s find a way to continue to get our work in, and I know and trust that whoever’s on that field, they’re going to do everything they can to win games.”
Whoever is in the lineup for the Rays will face right-hander Cam Schlittler (14-6, 1.94 ERA), who will make his final regular-season start before likely starting Game 1 of the wild-card series.
Since lasting 4 1/3 innings in an 8-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 19, Schlittler is 5-0 with a 1.46 ERA in his past 11 starts. The Yankees fell to 20-12 in his starts on Saturday when he allowed one earned run on three hits in six innings in a no-decision during a 5-3 loss at Arizona.
Schlittler is 1-2 with a 2.63 ERA in four career starts against the Rays.
Left-hander Ian Seymour (9-7, 4.38 ERA) originally was slated to start Wednesday but had his start pushed back a day to give Freddy Peralta extra rest to face Philadelphia on Friday.
Seymour is 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA in three starts this month, including Friday’s 4-2 loss to Boston when he allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings. One of his best starts this season occurred July 7 in Tampa Bay when he struck out 12 in 5 1/3 innings during a 6-4 win over the Yankees.
-Field Level Media
