Slugger’s wish to stay in lineup is granted

TORONTO — It took about a minute. After the Yankees clinched the American league East title Tuesday night, Aaron Judge made it clear he wanted to play the next day. And Aaron Boone said “OK.”

Judge played for the 49th straight game Wednesday as he continued his pursuit of the American League single-season home run record. The Yankees slugger had been “stuck” on 60 home runs for seven straight games going into the series finale against the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. Judge will have seven games after Wednesday night, just three at Yankee Stadium to try and make history.

Judge was one of four regular starters in the lineup after Tuesday night’s celebration with

Josh Donaldson, Harrison Bader and Oswaldo Cabrera also playing.

Judge’s “drought” of 31 plate appearances without a home run is his second longest of 2022. He went 41 plate appearances over nine games in August without hit a homer.

Judge was walked four times on Tuesday and lined out in the first inning. He worked the count full in all five plate appearances. Only 15 of 55 pitches that Judge has seen in this series have been in the strike zone.

DJ GIVING IT A GO

DJ LeMahieu will be activated and try to play on Friday in the series opener against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium. It’s an attempt to see if he can contribute in the playoffs.

“So DJ is going to go through another full workout today. With the idea that Friday’s gonna go and give it a go,” Boone said.

LeMahieu has been on the injured list since Sept. 5 with inflammation in the area of his right big and second toe. He has been playing through it since before the All-Star break, when he had a cortisone shot to try and get some relief. Lately, the Yankees have been talking about ways to limit the pain, including shots.

LeMahieu, who has four years left on his $90 million deal with the Yankees, has been a key cog in the Bombers’ offense the last few years. A contact hitter who won the batting title in 2020, LeMahieu usually leads off. LeMahieu is slashing .262/.358/.381 with a .740 OPS, 12 home runs, 18 doubles and 46 RBI in 120 games.

GUEST MANAGER

With many regulars off, Boone had some help managing on Wednesday. Anthony Rizzo stepped up into the role of assistant manager to help Boone.

“Once we settled on, which guys we wanted to have down and things like that. We kind of worked it out together,” Boone said of the lineup that Rizzo helped him work out. “I am looking forward to having them down there near me at the end and maybe I’ll step back a little bit.”

STANTON STRUGGLES

Giancarlo Stanton, who was not in the lineup Wednesday night allowing Judge to be the designated hitter, is not going to be back playing the outfield anytime soon. Boone had said he thought that could be an option when Stanton came back from his leg injury last month.

“We have not crossed the outfield bridge at all. We’re just trying to get him on track offensively,” Boone said. “Trying to get him going there, but outfield right now seems like not in the mix.”

Since his return from an Achilles injury last month, Stanton is hitting .146/.241/.281 with a .522 OPS, four homers and 14 RBI over 26 games.

IT’S NOT ALL 100

Boone is five wins away from his third 100-win season with the Yankees. It’s not his goal though.

“I’d love to see 100 I mean, but I mean there’s other more important things right now,” Boone said. “We punched our ticket by winning the east and so whatever happens from here on out, like we want to win every game and if we do that we get to 100 and that’s another achievement in and of itself, but certainly not the most important thing.”