NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge threw gingerly when he returned to right field Friday night for the first time since hurting his elbow in late July, yet the New York Yankees captain insisted his arm was 100%.
When Toronto's Nathan Lukes hit a shallow, bases-loaded single in the first inning that landed 218 feet from home plate, Judge grabbed the ball on one hop and made no attempt to throw home.
Click to Gallery
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, right and Jazz Chisholm Jr. watch a single hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Bo Bichette fall between them during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge watches as fans try to catch a home run ball hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge takes the field during the first inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge throws in a ball hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Nathan Lukes during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge fields a ball hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Nathan Lukes during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees'' Aaron Judge attends practice before a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
Daulton Varsho started the play on second base and was just rounding third when Judge threw to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., positioned at the back of the infield dirt, a toss measured at 67.9 mph by MLB Statcast. Varsho slid across the plate uncontested as Chisholm held the ball, and the Blue Jays took a 3-0 lead en route to a 7-1 victory.
“Get it in. Get it to the cutoff man. Let him do his thing," Judge explained.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone did not go into much detail when asked why Judge didn't throw home.
“He’s in position to make the throw,” Boone said. “We’re handling it how we handle it.”
Judge hadn't played the outfield since July 25, three days after he strained his flexor tendon while making a throw at Toronto.
“There was a little bit of unknown with how he was going to respond,” Blue Jays manager John Schenider said. “We want him to test it.”
Judge also caught a pair of flyouts with no runners on base and threw softly to Chisholm after Varsho hit an RBI double in the ninth on a ball that bounced to the wall. Judge allowed Bo Bichette’s fifth-inning popup to fall in front of him for a single as Chisholm peeled away.
“That’s just on me. I've got to take control there," Judge said. “Jazz does such a good job of going back on balls like that. I assumed, and you can’t assume in that situation. As the outfielder, you've got to take control.”
A two-time AL MVP and seven-time All-Star, the 33-year-old Judge is known for a strong and accurate arm. He made a 100.5 mph throw to catch the Los Angeles Angels' Kole Calhoun at the plate in May 2018.
Asked how close his arm was to 100%, Judge said: "I wouldn’t be out here if I wasn’t."
Judge went 1 for 3 with a walk and leads with major leagues with a .322 batting average and 1.103 OPS, hitting 43 homers with 97 RBIs. Since missing 10 games while on the injured list, Judge had been exclusively a designated hitter. He is batting .245 with six homers and 12 RBIs in 27 games since returning to the lineup on Aug. 5.
“A little bit like a pitcher, starting to go through plyometrics and things like that building up to get to the point to where he could start to throw a little bit,” Boone said before the game. “And then just gradually building from there, starting to throw to bases, getting our infielders involved, just so we could be a little creative with some things.”
Bichette put the Blue Jays ahead with a broken-bat RBI double down the left-field line off rookie Cam Schlittler, who was chased after 60 pitches and 1 2/3 innings. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to back an eight-inning, four-hit outing by Kevin Gausman, who won for the first time in a month.
When he trotted to right for pregame warmups with a bullpen catcher, Judge was trailed by two camera people. The crowd gave him a loud ovation when the lineups were read, and the Bleacher Creatures chanted his name repeatedly during Roll Call.
“They definitely knew what was going on, and they let it be known,” Judge said.
Boone said Judge initially won't be in right field every day, likely alternating with Giancarlo Stanton in a move that figures to further diminish playing time for rookie Jasson Domínguez.
“He’s good enough to be in there, and hopefully it will continue to improve,” Boone said after the game.
Judge first felt pain in the sixth inning of a July 22 game at Toronto, when George Springer singled to right and Judge made a strong throw home in an attempt to prevent the tying run.
Judge was a DH the next day and following an off day returned to right on July 25 for a series opener against Philadelphia. He had trouble throwing, went for an MRI on July 26 and was put on the IL.
In order to get both Judge and Stanton in the lineup together, Stanton has played 17 games in corner outfield spots since Aug. 9, his first outfield appearances since September 2023. Stanton is hitting .287 with 19 homers and 48 RBIs since starting his season on June 16. Stanton missed the first 70 games because of inflammation in the tendons of both elbows.
“Big G putting himself in the mix now is obviously a big deal, so probably some kind of a shared situation, but, again, we’ll see how Aaron responds day in and day out coming out of these games,” Boone said.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, right and Jazz Chisholm Jr. watch a single hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Bo Bichette fall between them during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge watches as fans try to catch a home run ball hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge takes the field during the first inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge throws in a ball hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Nathan Lukes during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge fields a ball hit by Toronto Blue Jays' Nathan Lukes during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
New York Yankees'' Aaron Judge attends practice before a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
NUSEIRAT, Gaza Strip (AP) — Sitting in her wheelchair, Haneen al-Mabhouh dreams of rebuilding her family, of cradling a new baby. She dreams of walking again. But with her leg gone, her life in Gaza is on hold, she says, as she waits to go abroad for further treatment.
An Israeli airstrike in July 2024 smashed her home in central Gaza as she and her family slept. All four of her daughters were killed, including her 5-month-old baby. Her husband was severely burned. Al-Mabhouh’s legs were crushed under the rubble, and doctors had to amputate her right leg above the knee.
“For the past year and a half, I have been unable to move around, to live like others. For the past year and a half, I have been without children,” she said, speaking at her parents’ home.
The 2-month-old ceasefire in Gaza has been slow to bring help for thousands of Palestinians who suffered amputations from Israeli bombardment over the past two years. The World Health Organization estimates there are some 5,000 to 6,000 amputees from the war, 25% of them children.
Those who lost limbs are struggling to adapt, faced with a shortage of prosthetic limbs and long delays in medical evacuations out of Gaza.
The WHO said a shipment of essential prosthetic supplies recently made it into Gaza. That appears to be the first significant shipment for the past two years.
Previously, Israel had let in almost no ready-made prosthetic limbs or material to manufacture limbs since the war began, according to Loay Abu Saif, the head of the disability program at Medical Aid for Palestinians, or MAP, and Nevin Al Ghussein, acting director of the Artificial Limbs and Polio Center in Gaza City.
The Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid, known as COGAT, did not respond when asked how many prosthetic supplies had entered during the war or about its policies on such supplies.
Al-Mabhouh was asleep with her baby girl in her arms when the strike hit their home in Nuseirat, she said. For several weeks while recovering in the hospital, al-Mabhouh had no idea her children had been killed.
She underwent multiple surgeries. Her hand still has difficulty moving. Her remaining leg remains shattered, held together with rods. She needs a bone graft and other treatments that are only available outside of Gaza.
She was put on the list for medical evacuation 10 months ago but still hasn’t gotten permission to leave Gaza.
Waiting for her chance to go, she lives at her parents’ house. She needs help changing clothes and can’t even hold a pen, and remains crushed by grief over her daughters. “I never got to hear her say ‘mama,’ see her first tooth or watch her take her first steps,” she said of her baby.
She dreams of having a new child but can’t until she gets treatment.
“It’s my right to live, to have another child, to regain what I lost, to walk, just to walk again,” she said. “Now my future is paralyzed. They destroyed my dreams.”
The ceasefire has hardly brought any increase in medical evacuations for the 16,500 Palestinians the U.N. says are waiting to get vital treatment abroad — not just amputees, but patients suffering many kinds of chronic conditions or wounds.
As of Dec. 1, 235 patients have been evacuated since the ceasefire began in October, just under five a day. In the months before that, the average was about three a day.
Israel last week said it was ready to allow patients and other Palestinians to leave Gaza via the Israeli-held Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. But it's unsure that will happen because Egypt, which controls the crossing’s other side, demands Rafah also be opened for Palestinians to enter Gaza as called for under the ceasefire deal.
Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, told The Associated Press that the backlog is caused by the lack of countries to host the evacuated patients. He said new medevac routes need to be opened, especially to the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, where hospitals are ready to receive patients.
Yassin Marouf lies in a tent in central Gaza, his left foot amputated, his right leg barely held together with rods.
The 23-year-old and his brother were hit by Israeli shelling in May as they returned from visiting their home in northern Gaza that their family had been forced to flee. His brother was killed. Marouf lay bleeding on the ground, as a stray dog attacked his mangled left leg.
Doctors say his right leg will also need to be amputated, unless he can travel abroad for operations that might save it. Marouf said he can’t afford painkillers and can’t go to the hospital regularly to have his bandages changed as they’re supposed to.
“If I want to go to the bathroom, I need two or three people to carry me,” he said.
Mohamed al-Naggar had been pursuing an IT degree at the University of Palestine before the war.
Seven months ago, shrapnel pierced his left leg during strikes on the house where his family was sheltering. Doctors amputated his leg above the knee. His right leg was also badly injured and shrapnel remains in parts of his body.
Despite four surgeries and physical therapy, the 21-year-old al-Naggar can’t move around.
“I’d like to travel abroad and put on a prosthetic and graduate from college and be normal like young people outside Gaza,” he said.
Some 42,000 Palestinians have suffered life-changing injuries in the war, including amputations, brain trauma, spinal cord injuries and major burns, the WHO said in an October report.
The situation has “improved slightly” for those with assistance needs but “there is still a huge overall shortage of assistive products,” such as wheelchairs, walkers and crutches. Gaza has only eight prosthetists able to manufacture and fit artificial limbs, the WHO said in a statement to the AP.
The Artificial Limbs and Polio Center in Gaza City, one of two prosthetics centers still operating in the territory, received a shipment of material to manufacture limbs just before the war began in 2023, said its director, Al Ghussein. Another small shipment entered in December 2024, but nothing since.
The center has been able to provide artificial limbs for 250 cases over the course of the war, but supplies are running out, Al Ghussein said.
No pre-made prosthetic legs or arms have entered, according to Abu Saif of MAP, who said Israel does not ban them, but its procedures cause delays and “in the end they ignore it.”
Ibrahim Khalif wants a prosthetic right leg so he can get a job doing manual labor or cleaning houses to support his pregnant wife and children.
In January, he lost his leg when an Israeli airstrike hit Gaza City while he was out getting food.
“I used to be the provider for my kids, but now I’m sitting here," Khalif said. "I think of how I was and what I’ve become.”
Prosthetic limb technician Ahmed Al-Ashqar, 34, prepares a leg amputation splint in the first stage of building an artificial leg at Hamad Hospital in Zawaida, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Yassin Marouf, 23, second from right, who lost his left foot and suffered a severe injury to his right leg after Israeli shelling in May, sits on a mattress in a tent surrounded by family and neighbors in Zawaida, central Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Haneen al-Mabhouh, 34, who lost her leg in an Israeli strike on her home that also killed all four of her daughters, including her 5-month-old baby, shows a photo of one of her daughters on a cellphone while sitting in a wheelchair in her family home in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Haneen al-Mabhouh, 34, who lost her leg in an Israeli strike on her home that also killed all four of her daughters, including her 5-month-old baby, sits in a wheelchair in her family home in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Yassin Marouf, 23, who lost his left foot and suffered a severe injury to his right leg after being hit by Israeli shelling in May, lies in a tent surrounded by his family in Zawaida, central Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
