Yankees put Aaron Judge on injured list with rib stress fracture, recall Spencer Jones from Triple-A

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees placed Aaron Judge on the 10-day injured list Friday, a day after announcing the slugger has a stress fracture in one of his ribs that will keep him off the field indefinitely.

The three-time AL MVP will rest and have limited activity before getting re-evaluated and having additional imaging in about four to six weeks. The Yankees said in a statement that Judge is expected to return “at some point this season.”

“Very disappointed,” Judge said before the Yankees opened a three-game series against the Red Sox. “That’s why we went through every measure we could to get an expert to take a look to see what was going on in there, but definitely not what you want to hear — any fracture or anything like that.”

“He really is going to have some downtime,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “So once he gets cleared to have the imaging and stuff like that, hopefully it comes back positive at that point and then we can start mapping out a return to play protocol and expect him back and get a clearer picture of when that would be.”

Judge underwent a CT scan on Thursday and had an MRI earlier in the week when he met with a specialist. The Yankees initially said Judge had shoulder soreness before clarifying the injury was to a rib on his right side, which was first revealed when Judge underwent testing on Monday, the team’s off day.

Judge said he first experienced pain while making a diving catch on April 26 in Houston and added that crashing into the right-field fence to complete a catch on May 3 against Baltimore “didn’t help.” The pain intensified last weekend, when he was 2 for 12 against the Athletics, leading to an array of tests and findings from Dr. Gregory Pearl, a vascular surgery specialist in Dallas.

“I kind of felt the symptoms for the past month and we did everything we could to make sure, we could be out there,” Judge said. “In Sacramento it just got a little worse. So, I fought it as long as I could.”

Including a stint on the COVID-19 injured list in July 2021, Judge is on the IL for the 10th time since debuting Aug. 13, 2016. He missed 45 games with a fractured right wrist in 2018, 54 games with a strained left oblique in 2019 and 42 games with a fractured toe in 2023 after crashing into a wall while making a catch at Dodger Stadium.

In 2023, the Yankees went 19-23 while Judge was on the injured list. In 2019, they were 37-17 and 25-20 the previous season.

“Obviously you’re not going to replace Aaron Judge, and we all know how important he is to our club, but we’re also very confident in our ability to go out there and absolutely have the expectation to continue to win games,” manager Aaron Boone said.

The Yankees recalled Spencer Jones from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre for his second stint with the team to replace Judge.

Jones went 4 for 24 on May 8-21 after being called up to replace Jasson Domínguez, who injured the AC joint in his shoulder while crashing into the left-field fence on a catch against Brandon Nimmo on May 7 against Texas.

Judge has a rib injury for the second time in his career.

He was diagnosed with a stress fracture in one of his right ribs in March 2020. The injury occurred when he dived for a ball in September 2019, but Judge didn’t miss any time because of the 2020 season being delayed by the pandemic.

The 34-year-old is hitting .248 with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs. But he has just one homer in his last 18 games since May 10 and ended an 11-game homer and RBI drought with a game-ending, two-run drive on May 24 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Judge entered the game against Tampa Bay in a 1-for-24 slump that dropped his batting average to .246. He was hitless in 15 at-bats before singling in the first inning.

“That was probably the biggest thing,” Judge said. “I just couldn’t swing the way I wanted to.”

Judge won the batting title last season, when he hit a career-high .331 with 53 homers and 114 RBIs in 152 games. He missed 10 games from July 26-Aug. 4 with a flexor strain in his right elbow that he sustained on a throw to home July 22 in Toronto. He underwent a plasma-rich injection and did not require offseason surgery.

Giancarlo Stanton played 17 games in the outfield when Judge was hurt last season. Stanton has been out since April 24 with a strained right calf and started taking live at-bats on the field Wednesday, though he was ruled out for New York’s upcoming road trip.

José Caballero started the first two games against Cleveland and has made four starts in right field since being acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline. Max Schuemann made his first career start in right field Thursday and made a diving catch on Steven Kwan in the second along with a leaping catch on Brayan Rocchio in the seventh.

Judge had started 52 games in right field. Jones made his fifth start in right field Friday and Cody Bellinger has started two games.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge waits on-deck before batting during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Saturday, May 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) looks on from the dugout during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

California Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui advanced to the November ballot on Friday after facing a reelection challenge from a younger Democrat.

Matsui, 81, has been in Congress since she replaced her late husband, former Rep. Bob Matsui, in the Sacramento-based seat in 2005.

In a statement referencing the upcoming runoff, Matsui vowed to “earn the trust of voters for another term in Congress.”

She faced a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Mai Vang, a member of the Sacramento City Council, and is one of several older Democrats challenged by younger insurgents this year. The second slot on the general election ballot has not yet been determined, but Vang issued a statement saying she was optimistic with the direction in which the count was moving.

“This is what people power looks like,” Vang said.

Two other House Democrats facing younger challengers, Reps. Brad Sherman in Los Angeles and Mike Thompson in Northern California, advanced to the general election as well.

But California's House primaries were most significant for being the first test of whether Democrats are able to add five potential pickups after they persuaded voters to let them redraw the electoral map last year.

The redistricting was sold as a countermeasure to Republican efforts to gain seats by reworking maps in states they control, including Texas.

Heading into Tuesday’s election, Democrats worried that California’s primary format, which sends the top two vote-getters to the general election regardless of party, could lead to them getting locked out of a seat they drew to their advantage in the San Diego’s suburbs.

That did not happen, as San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert advanced to face Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor.

Democrats are at risk of being shut out of another district they expected to pick up, in Sacramento’s suburbs — though the danger of that dimmed Friday as Democratic former state Sen. Richard Pan moved into the top two for the first time. Tens of thousands of more ballots remain to be tallied, and it is too soon to know who will make it to November.

Another redrawn district, which straddles Orange and Riverside counties in Southern California, favors Republicans. GOP Rep. Ken Calvert has advanced to the November election in the 40th District but does not yet know who his opponent will be. He had a bruising primary fight with fellow Republican Rep. Young Kim, whom Democrats drew into a new district that includes areas Calvert previously represented.

In San Francisco a wealthy progressive challenger was unable to crack the top two slots to fill retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat. Instead state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan will face off to replace the former House speaker.

And in the Central Valley, Republican Rep. David Valadao, widely considered one of the most vulnerable House Republicans, is waiting to see if he will face centrist Democrat and Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains or progressive political science professor and school board member Randy Villegas in November.

Several races cannot be called yet because of California's typical drawn-out election count, in which mail ballots that tend to come from more Democratic areas are counted later, eroding conservatives' traditional leads in votes reported on election night.

Trump has previously seized on the count to baselessly alleged fraud and did so again Thursday, adding that his Justice Department would investigate the state over it. A federal prosecutor toured Los Angeles' main vote-counting facility on Friday.

Voters cast their ballots for the California primary election on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif.. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Sacramento council member Mai Vang, who is running for Congress, speaks at her election night party in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday,, June 2, 2026.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., speaks during an election night event Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)