River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues » Didi Gregorius » Page 7

Gregorius out with torn cartilage in wrist, return uncertain

by

(Mike Stobe/Getty)

Following today’s loss Aaron Boone announced Didi Gregorius tore cartilage in his right wrist sliding into home plate on Aaron Hicks’ walk-off double yesterday night. Gregorius went for an MRI today and received a cortisone shot, and will be re-evaluated in a few days. It’s not certain when he’ll return.

Here’s the play that led to the injury. It looked like a fairly clean slide, but, after looking at it again, you can see Didi jams his right wrist into the ground. I guess that’s when the injury happened.

“I have some movement in there,” said Gregorius following today’s game. “They say things like this happens to other players. Some of them have played through it. We’re going to see how it goes. If it feels better, I’ll be back in there so we can still make that playoff decision.”

“I would not want to sit out and watch that (Wild Card Game),” added Didi. He said his wrist felt fine yesterday, but he woke up with pain today. For what it’s worth, Didi said his level of optimism is “high” because it already feels better. Fingers crossed.

Even without a fracture, wrist injuries can be very tricky, as we just learned with Aaron Judge. Even if Gregorius responds well to the cortisone shot and is able to return to the lineup in a few days, the injury could easily take a bite out of his production. Hopefully he responds well, but this is potentially very bad news.

The Yankees do have options to replace Gregorius at shortstop should he miss the duration of the season. Adeiny Hechavarria, who played short today, is a defensive standout who could play the position full-time. (Good thing they got him before the postseason-eligibility deadline, huh?) The Yankees could also move Gleyber Torres to short and go with Neil Walker or Ronald Torreyes at second. Either way, losing Didi is a huge blow. He is close to irreplaceable.

The Yanks are fighting for the top wildcard spot because their best players haven’t been at their best for weeks

by

(Mike Stobe/Getty)

Eleven losses in the last 19 games and recent series losses to the White Sox, Twins, and Blue Jays. The White Sox and Blue Jays series were at home too. The Yankees are 29-25 since the All-Star break and during that time they’ve a) bombed out of the AL East race, and b) seen their lead on the top wildcard spot trimmed from eight games to 1.5 games. It’s three games in the loss column when you include the tiebreaker, if that makes you feel better.

This weekend’s series loss the Blue Jays was not a bummer out-of-nowhere series loss like that Texas series back in May. It was more of the same from a generally underperforming Yankees squad that has become more and more lifeless as the season has progressed, to point where they are now thoroughly unexciting even while threatening the single-season home run record. How do you manage that? The 2018 Yankees have, somehow.

“You don’t want to go through it, especially when it’s late like this, but we’ve still got plenty of baseball left to get hot. It’s all about what team is hot,” said Aaron Judge, forever the optimist, to Bryan Hoch following yesterday’s game. “If we can get hot here in the last two weeks and take that into the playoffs, we’re going to be in a good position.”

The Yankees have used up pretty much the entire cushion they built in the first half, and now they’re in a mad dash to the finish to clinch homefield advantage in the Wild Card Game. They have 13 games remaining, ten of which will be played against the Rays (four games) and Red Sox (six games). The Athletics, meanwhile, have 12 games remaining. They’ll play nine of them against the Twins (three games) and Angels (six games). Yikes.

The Yankees are where they are right now because, quite simply, their best players have not had the seasons expected of them. Judge gets a pass here because he was so good before the fluke wrist injury that has sidelined him two months now. Everyone else though? This isn’t what anyone expected:

  • Gary Sanchez: Hitting .188/.284/.408 (87 wRC+) in 334 plate appearances overall and is 9-for-47 (.191) since returning from the disabled list (the second time).
  • Luis Severino: A 3.46 ERA (2.99 FIP) in 179.1 innings isn’t bad by any means, but he has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball (6.35 ERA) since the All-Star break.
  • Giancarlo Stanton: Not counting his partial rookie year, he’s on pace for his third worst AVG (.265), second worst OBP (.341), third worst SLG (.501), and second worst wRC+ (125 wRC+).

Dellin Betances, the team’s best reliever, has been generally awesome this season but has had some hiccups lately, including yesterday. Didi Gregorius has been great overall despite that ugly May and the recent heel injury. Masahiro Tanaka has been very good overall and ace-like for more than two months now. The first half wasn’t pretty though. Sonny Gray? Oy vey. Don’t even get me started on him.

On one hand, the fact the Yankees are 91-58 despite Sanchez being terrible, Severino’s second half, Stanton falling far short of expectations, and all that other stuff tells you how strong the rest of the roster has been. Where would the Yankees be without Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres? Good gravy. I don’t even want to think about it. Aaron Hicks, David Robertson, Jonathan Holder, J.A. Happ … they’ve all helped pick up the slack.

On the other hand, the American League is so top heavy and competitive — the four best records in baseball belong to AL teams, and the Indians are not one of those four despite already clinching the AL Central title — that the Yankees have no shot at doing anything meaningful in the postseason without getting more from their stars. They might not host the Wild Card Game without getting more from those guys.

Whose fault is it the Yankees’ top players are underperforming? The blame should always start with the players. In Severino’s case, it’s possible he’s feeling the effects of last year’s career-high workload. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit. Stanton is presumably dealing with a ton of pressure in his first season with the team, which would be a lame excuse, but an excuse nonetheless. Gary? He doesn’t have an excuse. Unless he’s been hiding an injury and playing hurt all year, there’s no good reason for him to have a season like this.

Of course, there were times Sanchez and Severino and Stanton produced at a truly elite rate earlier this year. Severino was brilliant in the first half. Stanton hit .288/.360/.549 (142 wRC+) from May 1st through August 31st and did much of that with one good hamstring. Sanchez hit .292/.396/.681 (185 wRC+) during a 31-game span from mid-April through mid-May. That success was a long time ago though. Same for Severino.

Look around at the other top AL contenders and they have key players having the best seasons of their career. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez for the Red Sox. Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez with the Indians. Alex Bregman with the Astros. Matt Chapman with the Athletics. Not necessarily career years, those guys might get even better going forward — that is especially true for Lindor, Bregman, and Chapman — but this is their best season to date.

The Yankees don’t have a single player like that. Maybe Gregorius and Hicks? I mean, yeah, definitely Gregorius and Hicks, but they’ve been more comfortably above-average than star-caliber. Imagine how good the Yankees would be if Sanchez and Stanton were performing up to their career norms, and Didi and Hicks were doing what they’re doing? Imagine how much easier it would be to deal with Severino’s struggles if Gray wasn’t a mess?

What’s done is done. Can’t go back and change it. The only thing the Yankees can do it be better going forward, and the first step in being a better team is getting the best players to actually be the best players. We all love Andujar and Gleyber. Things were much better when they were like the fourth and fifth best players on the team though, not the best and second best. Those two have done a lot of heavy lifting lately. The Yankees’ best players haven’t played up to snuff for weeks now, in some cases months, and the result is a small margin for error in the standings.

“We’ve got to play better, clearly. We’re not playing our best right now, but the history of this game is littered with stories of teams that went into the playoffs in different scenarios — limping, playing great — the bottom line is you’ve got to be playing right when it counts,” said Aaron Boone to Coley Harvey following yesterday’s game. “Don’t mistake that for, ‘This is okay.’ Still believe at my core that we have everyone in that room to do something special. We’re getting pushed around a little bit right now because it’s difficult and we’re not quite at our best. This thing ain’t even close to done.”

Yankeemetrics: Getting late early in the Bronx (Sept. 14-16)

by

(Newsday)

#TanakaTime is Terrific
Back in the Bronx for the first time in nearly two weeks, the Yankees kicked off their final homestand of the season with a stress-free rout of the Blue Jays. The 11-0 score was their largest shutout win since a 15-0 whitewashing of the Mets on June 14, 2009. This was the 630th game in the Yankees-Blue Jays rivalry, and the only other time they posted a larger shutout win was September 25, 1977 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

The Yankees enjoyed an early offensive eruption, scoring five runs in the first and had an 8-0 lead after three innings. This was their fourth game putting up a five-spot (or more) in the first inning; only the Diamondbacks (7) have done that more times this season.

Andrew McCutchen had a huge game, going 3-for-3 with two walks and a solo homer in the fifth inning, his first career home run at Yankee Stadium. It was his fourth game in 2018 reaching base at least five times, including a home run — that’s the most such games in MLB this season.

Masahiro Tanaka tossed another gem, bolstering his candidacy to be the Wild Card Game starter in October. He threw six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and extended his current scoreless streak to 20 innings, the second-longest of his career behind a 21 1/3 inning stretch earlier this season in July and August.

According to STATS, Tanaka is the first Yankee pitcher with multiple scoreless streaks of 20-plus innings within a season since Ron Guidry in 1983.

Tanaka is now 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA and 24-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in three September starts, but his consistent brilliance actually extends back further to mid-July. In 10 games since the All-Star break, Tanaka has a 2.09 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings. That’s the third lowest ERA among AL pitchers with at least 40 innings, trailing Blake Snell (1.40) and David Price (1.56).

(Getty)

Seven not enough
It was too little, too late on Saturday as the Yankees late-inning comeback bid fell just short in a 8-7 loss. Down 8-1 entering the bottom of the seventh, they scored six runs in the frame but ultimately the hole they dug themselves into was too too deep. This was the third time in the last two seasons that the Yankees put up a six-spot (or more) in a single inning and lost the game. Coincidentally or not, the Yankee starter in each of the three games was CC Sabathia.

They also somehow managed to lose the game despite hitting a quartet of homers, giving them an 11-3 record this season when going deep four times in a game. The good? The 14 games with at least four longballs is easily the most in MLB this year (no other team is in double digits). The bad? The .786 win percentage in those games is the second-worst in MLB this season (min. 5 games), behind the Phillies (6-2, .750), and the three losses are more than any other team.

When you add in the fact that they had 17 baserunners and still lost … the only other time in the last 10 seasons they managed to lose a game like that (at least 4 homers and 17 baserunners) was a 10-8 loss to the Angels on July 15, 2012.

Two of the four dingers were hit by Didi Gregorius, his 25th and 26th of the season, breaking his own single-season home run franchise record for shortstops that he set last year. Didi and Francisco Lindor are the only MLB shortstops with 25 or more homers in both 2017 and 2018.

It was also Gregorius’ fifth multi-homer game of the season, the most on the Yankees. The list of Yankee left-handed batters with five or more multi-homer games in a season is a fun one:

  • Didi Gregorius (2018)
  • Jason Giambi (2005)
  • Tino Martinez (1997)
  • Matt Nokes (1991)
  • Roger Maris (1960, ‘61)
  • Yogi Berra (1952)
  • Lou Gehrig (4 times)
  • Babe Ruth (8 times)

Miguel Andujar did his best to deliver an improbable win with a seventh-inning grand slam that made it a one-run game, his second grand slam this season (his other one also came against the Jays on June 5). Andujar is the fifth rookie in franchise history to hit multiple grand slams in a season, joining Russ Derry (1945), Yogi Berra (1947), Shane Spencer (1998) and Hideki Matsui (2003).

And, at 23 years old, #MiggyMantle is the youngest Yankee with a pair of grand slams in a season since … a 20-year-old Mickey Mantle hit two in 1952.

(AP)

Bad Betances
It was reverse-deja-vu for the Yankees on Sunday: this time they raced out to an early lead, but an eighth-inning Dellin Betances meltdown gave them the same end-game result as Saturday — a dismal and disappointing loss to a mediocre Blue Jays team.

Following his two-run, four-hit disaster outing, Betances has now allowed six runs in his last seven appearances. In his previous 39 appearances dating back to mid-May, Betances gave up three runs over 38 2/3 innings.

Dellin Betances Since May 12
IP Runs ERA Hits Opp BA
Last 7 Games 7 6 7.71 9 .310
Previous 39 Games 38.2 3 0.70 13 .103

Entering the day, the Yankees were 70-3 when leading at the start of the eighth inning; only the A’s (65-0) had a better record or fewer losses. The only other time this season the Yankees lost at home when taking a lead into the eighth was August 30 against the Tigers.

The Yankees are now 6-8 (.429) in September. That would be their worst regular-season September/October win percentage since … 2000, when they went 13-18 (.419). Fortunately, they had a slightly better record in October in the postseason that year.

Yankeemetrics: End of road, hello rock bottom (Sept. 10-12)

by

(Getty)

Welcome back, El Gary
Monday’s series opener in Minnesota had a familiar feel through the first five innings: too many wasted scoring opportunities amid mounting pressure to beat up on a below-average team. Locked in a pitchers duel, Gary Sanchez broke a scoreless tie with a solo homer in the sixth, and then the Yankees bats finally woke up in the next frame as they exploded for six seventh-inning runs en route to the 7-2 win. At 90-54 on the season, this was the fastest to 90 wins for the team since 2009, when they reached the mark in their 140th game.

Sanchez’s home run was a titanic blast that traveled an estimated 460 feet into the left field seats, his second home run this season of 460-plus feet (other was a 461-foot shot on May 4 against the Indians). He is one of four players this season to hit two 460-plus-foot bombs, along with Trevor Story, Joey Gallo and Carlos Gonzalez.

The most interesting part of Sanchez’s two mammoth homers is that they couldn’t have been more different in terms of their vertical location, highlighting his ability to crush pitches regardless of where they’re thrown. On Monday, Sanchez somehow golfed a pitch that was at his shins and sent it into the upper deck at Target Field; back in May, he tomahawked an elevated fastball deep into the left field bleachers at Yankee Stadium.

Through Monday, there had been 32 homers hit at least 460 feet. Sanchez’s against the Twins came on a pitch that crossed home plate just 1.2 feet off the ground, the lowest in the 32-homer sample. His one against the Indians in May came on a pitch that crossed home plate just 3.6 feet off the ground, the highest in the 32-homer sample.

Miguel Andujar ignited the fireworks in the seventh inning with an RBI double, his 40th two-bagger of the season. Cue the Joe-D comparisons:

Andujar is one of 14 Yankees all-time to hit at least 40 doubles and 20 homers in a season, but he is the first third baseman to achieve the feat in franchise history. And impressively, only five other American League rookies as young as (or younger than) the 23-year-old Andujar have produced a 40-double, 20-homer season:

AL Rookies Age 23 or Younger 20+ HR and 40+ Doubles
Year
Miguel Andujar 2018
Nomar Garciaparra 1997
Fred Lynn 1975
Ted Williams 1939
Joe DiMaggio 1936
Hal Trosky 1934

Slammed!
One up, one down continues to be an annoying trend for the Yankees this month. They followed up Monday’s win with an embarrassing and disappointing 10-5 loss on Tuesday. The Twins pummeled the Yankees pitching from start to finish, roughing up starter Sonny Gray for three runs in the first three innings, and then turning the game into an unsightly rout with seven more runs on nine hits against the bullpen.

After his implosion against the Twins, Gray’s ERA as a starter is 5.26 in 23 games. Since 2001, three other Yankee pitchers have finished a season with an ERA that high in as many starts as Gray: A.J. Burnett (5.26 in 2010), Javier Vazquez (5.56 in 2010) and Jeff Weaver (5.73 in 2003).

Jonathan Loaisiga took over for Gray and was somehow worse, tagged for six runs while getting just four outs. The six runs matched the same number he had allowed in his first 20 major-league innings pitched before Tuesday.

(AP)

Three of those runs came courtesy of a grand slam allowed by Tommy Kahnle, who inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth and poured gasoline on the fire when Joe Mauer deposited a center-cut fastball into the seats. It was the first grand slam allowed by Kahnle in his big-league career.

Kahnle has now inherited 11 baserunners and allowed eight of them (73%) to score. Among the 200-plus pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched and 10 inherited runners this season, that inherited score rate is the highest in MLB (the league average rate is 31%).

Didi Gregorius kept the game from being a total disaster with his own grand slam in the sixth, his third career dinger with the bases loaded and second this season. He is the first shortstop in franchise history to hit multiple grand slams in a season.

Both of his slams this year came against the Twins (also on April 23 at in the Bronx), giving us our #FunFact of the series. Here’s the list of Yankees to hit multiple grand slams against the Twins/Senators franchise since 1925:

  • Lou Gehrig (5)
  • Babe Ruth (3)
  • Mickey Mantle (2)
  • Alex Rodriguez (2)
  • Didi Gregorius (2)

Nearly no-hit
The Yankees dropped a rare series in Minnesota thanks to Wednesday night’s debacle, a 3-1 loss in which they nearly got no-hit by Jake Odorizzi. They entered this series 20-8 all-time at Target Field, the best record by any AL team at the ballpark and the Yankees best record at any current AL stadium.

Their offensive struggles reached near-DEFCON-1 levels with Odorizzi taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Greg Bird drilled a one-out RBI double into the left-centerfield gap. It was the longest the Yankees had been held without a hit since September 11, 2014 when Rays righty Alex Cobb had his no-hitter broken up with one out in the eighth inning by a double from Chris Young.

(Getty)

Bird might have been one of the most unlikely Yankees to make sure the team wouldn’t be on the wrong side of history. It was his first hit since August 29 and his first RBI since August 19. Bird had one hit in his previous 30 at-bats dating back to August 19 before Wednesday’s miracle hit.

Luis Severino delivered a strong bounceback effort with one run allowed on four hits in 5 2/3 innings. After giving up a leadoff single, he retired 15 straight guys before getting into trouble in the sixth. It was his fewest runs given up since July 1, when he threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the Red Sox. In between those dates — 11 games from July 7 through September 5 — Severino posted a 6.83 ERA and batters had a .934 OPS against him.

Game 143: So Long, West Coast

by

(Stephen Brashear/Getty)

The nine-game road trip does not end today, but the six-game West Coast swing does. After dropping two of three in Oakland (bah), the Yankees have won the first two games in Seattle (yay), so this afternoon they have a chance to finish the three-game sweep that would more or less close the door on the Mariners’ postseason hopes. At one point the Mariners were 7.5 games up on a postseason spot. Now they’re 7.5 games back. Rough.

Enough about the Mariners though. The Yankees have a comfortable eleven-game lead on a postseason spot, but they’re only 3.5 games ahead of the Athletics for the top wildcard spot, and getting homefield advantage in the Wild Card Game is mighty important. Because the Yankees hold the tiebreaker over the A’s, the magic number to clinch the top wildcard spot is 15 with 20 games to play. Still a lot of work to do. Here are today’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. RF Andrew McCutchen
2. LF Giancarlo Stanton
3. DH Miguel Andujar
4. C Gary Sanchez
5. 3B Neil Walker
6. 1B Luke Voit
7. 2B Gleyber Torres
8. SS Adeiny Hechavarria
9. CF Brett Gardner

LHP CC Sabathia

Seattle Mariners
1. RF Mitch Haniger
2. SS Jean Segura
3. 2B Robinson Cano
4. DH Nelson Cruz
5. 1B Ryon Healy
6. LF Cameron Maybin
7. 3B Kris Negron
8. C David Freitas
9. CF Guillermo Heredia

RHP Erasmo Ramirez

It is cool, cloudy, and rainy in Seattle today. The Safeco Field roof should be closed. This afternoon’s first pitch is scheduled for 4:10pm ET. YES will have the broadcast. Enjoy the game, folks.

Injury Updates: Aaron Judge (wrist) continues to progress with no issues and could take full on-field batting practice during the upcoming series with the Twins this week. If that happens, it seems like there might be a chance Judge could join Triple-A Scranton for some rehab games before the end of their postseason … Didi Gregorius (heel) is okay. The Yankees are just taking it slow in his return from the disabled list because he didn’t play in any rehab games.

Rotation Update: Sonny Gray is listed as the starter for Tuesday’s game against in Minnesota. It’ll be J.A. Happ on Monday, Gray on Tuesday, and Luis Severino on Wednesday. The Yankees are using Gray as a spot starter to give Luis Severino an extra day between starts. I kinda wish they’d skip that start entirely. Alas.

Minor League Update: Don’t wait around for the daily DotF post today, folks. There won’t be one. There are no minor league games today. Triple-A Scranton clinched a spot in the International League Championship Series last night, and the series doesn’t begin until Tuesday. All the other minor league affiliates are done playing. DotF will return Tuesday as the RailRiders look to win their second Governor’s Cup in three years.

Game 142: A night with the King

by

(Stephen Brashear/Getty)

Not that long ago, a matchup with Felix Hernandez would’ve meant the Yankees were in for a long night. Or a short night, depending how you look at it. Felix was as good as they come during his prime. Father Time remains undefeated though, and coming into tonight, Hernandez has a 5.55 ERA (4.97 FIP) in 147.2 innings. It’s a 4.60 ERA (4.85 FIP) in 387.2 innings dating back to Opening Day 2016. Yuck.

The Yankees have their own formerly reliable veteran on the mound tonight in Lance Lynn. Lynn pitched quiet well in his first three outings as a Yankee (one run in 16.1 innings), but his last four starts have been bad (19 runs in 18.2 innings), and I can’t help but wonder whether the Yankees would’ve started Sonny Gray today had Gray not been away from the team for the birth of his second child earlier this week. Hopefully Lynn bounces back tonight. Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. RF Andrew McCutchen
2. DH Giancarlo Stanton
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. 1B Luke Voit
5. 3B Miguel Andujar
6. SS Didi Gregorius
7. 2B Gleyber Torres
8. C Austin Romine
9. LF Brett Gardner

RHP Lance Lynn

Seattle Mariners
1. CF Mitch Haniger
2. SS Jean Segura
3. 1B Robinson Cano
4. DH Nelson Cruz
5. LF Denard Span
6. 3B Kyle Seager
7. RF Ben Gamel
8. C Mike Zunino
9. 2B Dee Gordon

RHP Felix Hernandez

Another cloudy and cool night in Seattle, though there’s no rain in the forecast tonight, so the Safeco Field roof will probably be open. That’s good. Baseball outside is better than baseball inside. Tonight’s game will begin at 9:10pm ET and you can watch on YES. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: Didi Gregorius (heel) is in the starting lineup, as you can see, but he is not expected to play the entire game. The Yankees are treating these as rehab games right now, so it might be a few days before Didi plays a full nine innings … Aaron Judge (wrist) hit in the batting cage today and went through his usual defensive drills as well. He started swinging a bat earlier this week and everything continues to go well … Aroldis Chapman (knee) is throwing on flat ground in Tampa. He’s still relatively early in his throwing program though.

Game 141: A New Series

by

(Presswire)

I don’t know about you, but that series against the Athletics irked me all through the off-day. Pretty crummy series all the way around. At least it’s over. The Yankees are now in Seattle for a three-game series against a Mariners team that managed to go from seven games up on a postseason spot to 5.5 games back of a postseason spot the last two and a half months. Ouch. Seattle is nine games behind the Yankees at the moment.

Masahiro Tanaka is on the mound and, at this point, the Yankees are basically holding open auditions for the Wild Card Game starter. On any given day the Wild Card Game starter will be the last guy who pitched well. Right now, it’s J.A. Happ. With a strong start tonight, everyone will say it’s Tanaka. I hope that is the case in a few hours. Here are tonight’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. RF Andrew McCutchen
2. DH Giancarlo Stanton
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. C Gary Sanchez
5. 3B Miguel Andujar
6. 1B Luke Voit
7. 2B Gleyber Torres
8. SS Adeiny Hechavarria
9. LF Brett Gardner

RHP Masahiro Tanaka

Seattle Mariners
1. RF Mitch Haniger
2. SS Jean Segura
3. 2B Robinson Cano
4. DH Nelson Cruz
5. LF Denard Span
6. 1B Ryon Healy
7. 3B Kyle Seager
8. C Mike Zunino
9. CF Dee Gordon

LHP James Paxton

Chilly evening in Seattle and there are some showers in the forecast later on, so the Safeco Field roof is probably going to close at some point, if not before the game. First pitch is scheduled for 10:10pm ET and YES will have the broadcast. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: In case you missed it earlier, Didi Gregorius (heel) has been activated off the disabled list, and the hope is he’ll play tonight. Aaron Boone said they want to ease Didi back into things since he hasn’t played any rehab games, and it sounds like the plan is to have him come off the bench once the tough lefty (Paxton) is out of the game. Gregorius will play tomorrow, but likely not the entire game. It’s a rehab assignment at the big league level, basically … Aaron Judge (wrist) took another step forward in his rehab today. He hit off a tee and soft toss on the field today, and again everything went well. The wrist is essentially pain-free. “This is kind of what we’ve been waiting for the whole time,” said Boone.

Roster Note: Sonny Gray has rejoined the Yankees. He missed the A’s series because he was home with his wife, who gave birth to their second child earlier this week. Congrats to them.