“💔 Heartbreaking Decision or Game-Changing Move? Yankees Make Major Aaron Judge Announcement Just Hours Before Critical Guardians Game — The Emotional Update That Has New York Fans on Edge and Holding Their Breath”

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Yankees make Aaron Judge decision.

The New York Yankees will once again be without Aaron Judge.

Ahead of the Yankees’ second game of their series against the Cleveland Guardians, the team released its lineup, and Judge is noticeably absent again.

The Yankees’ lineup for their game against the Guardians on June 3 is as follows:

T. Grisham CF
B. Rice 1B
P. Goldschmidt DH
C. Bellinger LF
J. Chisholm Jr. 2B
J. Caballero RF
R. McMahon 3B
A. Wells C
A. Volpe SS

Gerrit Cole will also start for the Yankees who’s been dominant for New York since returning from injury.

Judge still not being in the lineup isn’t a huge surprise, as the Yankees said he was set to see a specialist on Wednesday. But the fact that it’s another day not playing, it could very well lead to an IL stint for the superstar slugger.

Judge is hitting .248 with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs this season with the Yankees.

Judge Getting Checked Out by Specialist

After Judge wasn’t in the lineup in the Yankees series opener, New York manager Aaron Boone said he’s set to see a specialist.

“It’s kind of a unique spot,” Boone said postgame. “We’ll have the specialist probably look at it tomorrow and see where we’re at and see how he feels with it.”

The Yankees revealed Judge is dealing with a bone bruise that has been impacting him for quite a bit.

“The last couple of games in Sacramento, I think it became a little more than that, where I noticed it with some swings and stuff,” Boone said. “I think it was affecting him.”

Without Judge in the lineup, Jose Caballero is playing right field, meaning Anthony Volpe plays at shortstop.

Yet, Yankees veteran Paul Goldschmidt knows everyone has to step up in Judge’s absence.

“We’d love to have him in the lineup for this team; he’s the captain for a reason,” Goldschmidt said. “But if he does end up missing time, whether it’s short or long, the guys that are here are going to have to step up and play well.”

The Yankees lost the series opener to the Guardians by a score of 9-4.

New York Drops Series Opener

The Yankees lost their series opener to the Guardians on Tuesday as Cam Schlittler had a rare bad start.

Schlittler gave up a season-high five runs, four earned, over 4.1 innings in the 9-4 loss as he felt his stuff wasn’t as good as it usually is.

“I’m not afraid to admit that I was probably out there thinking about some stuff with the four-seam [fastball],” Schlittler said. “The mechanics just kind of got away from me a little bit there. I wasn’t going out there competing. I was just trying to get guys out. …

“It wasn’t great in K.C. as well, and it wasn’t great tonight. I’ve just got to go out there and flush that stuff. I’ll work on it between starts and just go out there and pitch. I didn’t think I did that to my full potential today.”

The Yankees will look to even up the series on Wednesday with Cole on the mound.

Cole Shelton Cole Shelton covers the NHL, MLB, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns for Heavy.com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more. More about Cole Shelton