Before Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees called up top prospects Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Teixeira was banged up and could use consecutive days off. RHP Bryan Mitchell (left big toe), on the DL since spring training, allowed three runs and five hits in 2 1/3 innings for Tampa at Daytona on Saturday night in his second rehab start. Judge displayed his strength by hitting a 446-foot bomb into Monument Park.
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The crowd gave them loud ovations during their trots and again when they headed to their positions for the second inning.
Less than 24 hours after Alex Rodriguez played in his last game for the New York Yankees which felt like the end of an era, Saturday afternoon a new era began.
Each went 2 for 4, Austin using a bat with a lime-colored grip and Judge swinging black lumber.
An official announcement on Rodriguez is expected later.
Aaron Judge is listed at 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds of muscle. (Alex’s Departure), the Yankees assembled a lineup that looked like something you send to Kissimmee in mid-March and the Astros complain the mandatory four starters were not on the trip.
Even more awesome? Judge following Austin’s homer with his first career hit, run, and RBI a few minutes later. Its only one game but you couldn’t ask for more out of their debuts.
On Saturday, the Yankees got the post-A-Rod era off to a booming start.
Austin was expected to replace Rodriguez and did not play Friday and Judge was eating dinner with his family in Rochester after hitting a grand slam for his 19th home run in Triple-A when he found out he was getting called up.
Starlin Castro had four RBIs for the Yankees, hitting a two-run single in the fourth and a two-run homer in the sixth. Judge caught the final out of the first, stretching with his left arm to snag Evan Longoria’s flyout and then bracing himself with both hands as he hit the padded right-field wall. (Brian McCann hit one 450 feet.) The Yankees say Judge is the third player to hit a home run off the windows of the restaurant – it looks like the ball hit over the windows though, right? – joining Russell Branyan and Carlos Correa. Tanaka (9-4) retired the first 10 hitters and allowed four runs and five hits in seven innings. In the bottom of the second inning with two outs, Austin stepped up to the plate for the first time and on a 2-2 count, smashed an HR to right field and scoring the first run of the game. Didi Gregorius. In the seventh against Erasmo Ramirez, Gregorius went yard with a two-run shot to right to finish the scoring. After a poor 2015, he was designated for assignment September 1, giving other teams a chance to claim him off waivers.
He remained with the Yankees and after playing in the Arizona Fall League and Venezuelan Winter League, he started this year at Double-A Trenton and blossomed after he was promoted to Triple-A on June 4.
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METS 3, PADRES 2 (11): Wilmer Flores drove in the winning run when rookie second baseman Ryan Schimpf made a wild throw to plate in the 11th inning, and NY brushed off two stunning homers to beat San Diego. Gardner said X-rays were negative. Now eager for an encore, NY sends its top young arm to the mound in Luis Severino (1-4, 6.42 ERA).
