Yankees use two-man bench vs. Rangers ahead of Aaron Judge timeline day

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Yankees essentially played with a two-man bench Sunday, but only because they are holding out hope for two bats to avoid the injured list.

Decision day for Aaron Judge is coming on Monday, when the Yankees will make a call on whether or not the slugger needs to go on the IL for a mild hip strain that he sustained on Thursday.

Judge missed his third straight game in Sunday’s 15-2 loss to the Rangers and is expected to miss a fourth on Monday, but there is a chance he could be in line to return to the lineup that sorely misses him as early as Tuesday or Wednesday against the Guardians.

“If he doesn’t go on the IL, probably best case is sometime in that Cleveland series,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Judge threw on Sunday as he continued to receive treatment, but otherwise his baseball activities were limited to standing in the dugout with his batting gloves on and a bat in his hand.

Meanwhile, the Yankees got positive news on Jake Bauers, who left Saturday’s game in the first inning after sliding into the left-field wall following a spectacular catch.

Bauers underwent an MRI exam on Sunday that came back clean on his contused right knee, Boone said, meaning he should be able to avoid the IL.

“We’ll see where we’re at [Monday] and treat it day to day,” Boone said. “Everything checked out well with the knee, he’s just got that swelling in there. We [will try to] get that out of there and hopefully get him in the mix.”

The Yankees had Franchy Cordero, who flew to Boston on Saturday after being optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre late Friday night, fly back to Dallas on Sunday morning in case Bauers needed to go on the IL.

But it appears Cordero will not be needed, even if that means the Yankees potentially playing with a short bench again on Monday.

Bauers had his right knee wrapped on Sunday and was still walking around with a limp, though it did not appear to be as bad as Saturday night.

“There’s still swelling and it’s stiff, but the pain is down,” Bauers said Sunday morning. “I feel like I’m walking pretty good. I’m walking pain-free. The only thing that’s keeping my range of motion down is the swelling. I’m sure today we’ll try to get all of that out of there.”