Postgame questions yielded Orwellian responses following the Yankees’ 7-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Friday, as Aaron Boone and Aaron Judge told fans and reporters to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears.
This was the approach the two pinstriped leaders opted for after Judge’s long-awaited return to right field demonstrated that his throwing is still compromised by a right flexor strain. The proof came in the first inning as Nathan Lukes’ bases-loaded single to shallow right allowed the Blue Jays to score two runs.
One runner was always going to cross the plate on the play, but the Jays managed a second run off Cam Schlittler when Judge, making his first in-game throw since late July after being confined to DH duties, flipped a short, soft throw to cutoff man Jazz Chisholm Jr. instead of firing home. That allowed Daulton Varsho, the second run on the play, to score even though he had yet to touch third base by the time Judge fielded the ball.
Tasked with throwing for the first time back in right field, Aaron Judge flipped a short toss to Jazz Chisholm Jr. when there was a shot to get Daulton Varsho at the plate. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/Zr2FP4p7GW
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) September 5, 2025
It wasn’t surprising that Judge didn’t throw at max effort, as he rarely did so in front of reporters while slowly working through a throwing program over the last several weeks. Still, he cost the Yankees a run on Friday, prompting questions.
Asked what happened on that two-run single in the first inning — the only such play in the opening frame — Judge replied, “Which one are you talking about?”
When told it was the Lukes hit, Judge said, “Just dropped the ball in. Throw it into the cutoff man. It’s a two-run single. What do you mean?”
At that point, the MVP candidate, typically in possession of a deterring right arm, was asked if he was capable of making the throw home.
“I wouldn’t be in the outfield if I wasn’t able to make that throw,” Judge said after declining to make that throw.
So why didn’t he, especially with Varsho so far from the plate?
“My first thought was to get it into Jazz, get it into whoever, just for them to make that throw,” Judge responded. “Because my first thought was trying to make the play, and it just kind of died before it got to me. So my next thought is, ‘Hey, try to get it in as soon as you can and see what happens.’”
Boone, who previously said he didn’t expect Judge to throw “normally” again this season before backtracking those comments, faced a similar line of questioning, which the manager danced around.
“He got to it, and he scored,” Boone said when asked what happened on the Lukes play.
Is Judge not able to make that throw?
“Yeah, he’s in position to make the throw,” the skipper continued.
Right. So why didn’t he?
“We’re handling it how we handle it, OK?” Boone shot back, irritated with the subject.
“He’s playing. He’s in there,” the skipper added when reminded that he had been asked about potential restrictions on Judge’s throwing in his pregame press conference. “He’s good enough to be in there, and hopefully it will continue to improve.”
The Yankees can ignore or spin Judge’s first-inning throw anyway they want to, but he shoots home 10-out-of-10 times and throws a pinpoint bullet more often than not under normal circumstances.
Of course, the Yankees will act like these are normal circumstances, as Judge said, “I wouldn’t be out here if I wasn’t” when asked how close his arm feels to 100%.
He gave a similar answer when asked if he feels like he can let his throws rip and if he thinks teams will test him like the Blue Jays clearly did on Friday.
“You gotta ask them. I don’t know. I got a job to do out there, but if the ball is hit to me, I’m going to make the throw,” Judge said hours after not making a throw on a ball hit to him.
The Yankees could make a case that Judge’s athleticism in right is worth the trade-off of his obviously limited arm, as Giancarlo Stanton, lacking in mobility, has been playing the outfield with Judge DHing over the past month.
Boone alluded to that in his pregame comments, but he was short when asked how he weighs those factors after the game.
“Yeah, you got to,” he said. “You gotta weigh it.”
In a follow-up, Boone went on to say Judge is “a great right fielder, so we weigh it and make a decision based on how he’s doing and what we think gives us the best chance to win.”
The question now is how often Judge will play right field after his arm hurt the Yankees on Friday.
Boone said he wasn’t sure about Judge getting a second consecutive start in right on Saturday, but the player hopes to be out there “as much as I can, every day.”
“That’s the plan,” Judge said. “If it gives us the best lineup, that’s what we gotta do.”
Time will tell if that’s the case, even if the Yankees are already insisting it is.
