Yankees’ Judge (hip discomfort) exits win early

New York Yankees star outfielder Aaron Judge exited Thursday’s 4-2 win at the Texas Rangers early because of right hip discomfort, the team said.

Judge struck out in his only two at-bats, once with the bases loaded, before he was replaced in right field in the bottom of the fourth inning by Oswaldo Cabrera.

He said he felt “a little grab in the hip area” after his second strikeout.

“After that headfirst dive the other night, just kind of whole right side has been a little locked up,” Judge said. “It wasn’t until the second-to-last swing of that at-bat I felt something grab, and they thought it would kind of best just to shut it down and see how we feel after a couple of days.”

Manager Aaron Boone said that Judge wasn’t currently slated to have any tests on his hip.

“We’ll kind of reassess him [Friday] and see how the hip is doing,” Boone said.

Thursday’s game was Judge’s first in Texas since breaking Roger Maris’ single-season American League home run mark there last October in the next-to-last game of the season.

Judge entered Thursday batting .267 with six home runs and 14 RBIs in 25 games.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.