KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Aaron Judge nearly homered his way out of his first day off all year.
Instead, in Game 67, the best hitter in baseball finally rested.
Nearly a week ago, Aaron Boone had circled Thursday as a good day to have Judge out of the lineup — or at least the most optimal, since there never is a good day not to have him batting second or third in the lineup.
Judge’s response was that if he homered in each of the first two games against the Royals, Boone would have to reconsider.
Sure enough, Judge went deep Tuesday and again Wednesday for his 25th home run of the year and brought the evidence back to his manager.
“He kind of looked at me, like, ‘Hey…’ ” Boone said with a grin Thursday at Kauffman Stadium. “So I was reconsidering. But I think we both wanted to stay disciplined to this one. Right time for it.”
Judge started the first 67 games of last season before getting his first day off June 10.
This year, he started the first 66 before resting June 12, though Boone indicated that was more coincidental than it being some scientific sweet spot for a day off.
But the Yankees are early in a stretch of 16 games in 16 days. They were scheduled to get into their hotel in Boston in the early hours of Friday morning. They have a day game Sunday after a night game Saturday. And the Royals started a pair of lefties in the first two games of this series before right-hander Seth Lugo took the mound Thursday.
“I never want him out of the lineup, but I feel like one of those that hopefully pays some dividends in the long run of keeping him fresh,” Boone said. “Today seemed like the day that made some sense.”
Boone had second thoughts about his decision Wednesday night after Judge crushed another home run — his third straight game with at least one homer, which put him on pace for 61 over the course of a full season — but eventually stuck to his gut.
The 6-foot-7, 282-pound right fielder started a career-high 158 games last season and remains on track to chase that number this year as long as he stays healthy.
The day off allowed an epic start to the season to breathe for the first time.
Through his first 66 games, Judge was batting .394 with a 1.269 OPS, 25 home runs and 59 RBIs.
He had reached base safely in 62 of those 66 games and reached base multiple times in an MLB-high 51 games, just the third player in the modern era to accomplish that, joining Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
Judge also is the only player in the modern era to record as many home runs and as high of a batting average as he did through his club’s first 66 games of a season.
“It’s getting out of hand at this point,” Clarke Schmidt said. “It feels like every time he goes up there, he’s ready to do damage. Obviously, the average is what it is. If it’s not a homer, it’s probably a hit. It’s crazy impressive what he’s able to do.”
Judge has made a run at the Triple Crown in each of his two MVP seasons before falling short in batting average both times.
This season, he entered Thursday leading the American League in batting average by 28 points (over Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson) and RBIs by two (over Red Sox DH Rafael Devers) while trailing Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh by one home run.
On the whole — adding in his quality defense in right field — his 5.9 fWAR was 1.9 higher than anyone else in the majors (Raleigh at 4.0).
“The most amazing part of it is I feel like he’s just playing well — I don’t feel like he’s been on fire at any point,” Boone said. “That’s what’s amazing about it. I think he’s just out there playing well. Getting his hits, doing his thing. But in a lot of ways, I’m honestly still waiting for him to catch fire. And then that’s when it gets really scary.”
