Yankees' Aaron Judge 'Not Happy' With Early Exit in Return From Injury, 'I Played Half a Game'

New York Yankees star Aaron Judge wasn't thrilled to be removed from Tuesday's 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies.

In his first appearance since May 31, Judge got pulled for Heliot Ramos in the seventh inning.

The three-time MVP quipped after the victory he felt fine physically because he "played half a game." He added he respected manager Aaron Boone's decision to replace him but was "not happy about it."

The substitution couldn't have gone much better for New York. Ramos hit a three-run home run to right-center in the eighth to put New York up 5-1.

Rockies vs. Yankees (09/08/2026)

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It was just his second homer in pinstripes following his trade from the San Francisco Giants. Prior to Tuesday, he had batted .145 and slugged .261 as a Yankees player.

Boone telegraphed Judge's exit before the game got underway.

"He won't play the whole game today, even though he wants to," the manager told reporters. "I'm going to be mindful of that, especially this first week. He'll probably have one of the days this series off. We'll adjust each night on what we see."

It became easier to stick with the plan when Judge went 0-for-3 at the plate in his return.

The Yankees have a lot to play for right now. They could still conceivably chase down the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, who are up four games, in the American League East.

Boone is keeping one eye on the postseason, though, when the Bronx Bombers are at least a lock to secure a wild-card berth.

It's better for the team to ramp Judge up toward October rather than immediately reinsert him into his usual role. If that means proactively resting him or removing him mid-game, so be it.