Returning slugger: I’ll be ready for opener

TAMPA — The third time was finally the charm for Aaron Judge’s return to the lineup.

Ten days after he last played in a game — with the time in between filled with an MRI to check on his abdominal discomfort, two failed predictions by Aaron Boone for when his captain might play again, and daily questions about Judge’s status with Opening Day beginning to creep up on him — Judge was back in the Yankees lineup on Wednesday night against the Pirates at Steinbrenner Field.

Judge batted third and played four innings in center field, finally appearing when and where the Yankees expected him to after his status had been shrouded in some mystery for a week and a half. He lined a double to the gap in his first at-bat, worked an eight-pitch walk his next time up and tracked down a deep fly ball to the warning track on defense.

“Feeling good,” Judge said. “Like I’ve been telling you guys, just excited to get back in there. Get a couple atbats, get a couple swings, get a couple tough plays in the field and get ready for the next game.”

The plan now is for Judge to play in three of the Yankees’ final four Grapefruit League games. He will stay back in Tampa for workouts on Thursday while the team plays on the road before starting Friday and Saturday and then again on Monday in the spring finale.

Judge reiterated that he typically likes to get 30 atbats in spring training, but with 18 plate appearances through Wednesday, he is unlikely to get all the way there. But he said taking atbats off the Trajekt (a pitching machine that simulates the motion of real pitchers on a video screen) will help supplement his total workload.

“I think we’ll be in a good spot,” he said. “We’re going to get my work in, like I have been the past couple weeks, and we’ll be ready to go for Opening Day.”

Throughout the last 10 days, the Yankees had insisted they were playing things cautiously with Judge. They would rather he miss a handful of Grapefruit League exhibitions instead of the real games when they start counting next Thursday against the Astros in Houston.

“I haven’t been worried about it, really the last week, just because I knew they took pictures [an MRI] of it right away and if there’s anything, it’s going to show,” Boone said.