Aaron Judges injury looming large as Yankees brace for clearer diagnosis

The waiting game continued Wednesday evening, the story looming over anything that happened on the field for the Yankees. With so much uncertainty swirling about the status of Aaron Judge, a bone bruise near his right rib cage that’s impacting his swing and how much time the Yankees’ superstar could miss, the only thing that’d become certain by first pitch was that he wasn’t in the lineup for a second consecutive night.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

Judge, who last played Sunday, underwent imaging on the team’s day off Monday, met with team physician Dr.Christopher Ahmad on Tuesday and saw a specialist Wednesday.

When manager Aaron Boone met with reporters before the game, the specialist was still reviewing the images, preventing Boone from getting an answer he’d hoped to have at that point. Judge was left to work out in the weight room, get treatment and await his fate — whether this was a best-case scenario that didn’t involve the injured list, a short stint on the IL or something more long term that could threaten to derail the Yankees’ strong start.And the Yankees were left to tweak their lineup, with José Caballero in right field and Ben Rice as their lineup’s power source. Asked how long the Yankees would go without Judge being an option before making a transaction, Boone said he didn’t know.“It kind of depends on probably this diagnosis with the doctors and seeing where he’s at [Wednesday] and [Thursday],” Boone said.So the Yankees needed to pivot again.

They needed to start Caballero in right field again, a spot the utilityman — who Boone said the Yankees “trust in a lot of places” — hadn’t played since September before opening the game there Monday. They needed to rely on Rice, in just his second full MLB season, as their lineup’s anchor, banking on the lefty slugger’s ability to adapt if pitchers a...