Aaron Judge made his long-awaited return for the New York Yankees on Friday night. Playing his first game nearly two months after suffering a toe injury, Aaron Judge had little effect on a struggling Yankees lineup. The Baltimore Orioles spoiled Judge's return, shutting out the Yankees in a 1-0 walk-off win and moving nine games ahead of New York atop the AL East.

Judge deserves little blame for the Yankees' inability to push a single run across the plate. The slugger lined the first pitch he saw to right field for an out. Judge walked in each of his next three at-bats. New York failed to drive home their best player in every instance.

Judge admitted that the excitement of being back on the field might have affected him in his first at-bat since June 3.

Article Continues Below

“I felt all right. I think I was a little jumpy to begin with,” Judge said after the game, via MLB.com. “After my second at-bat, swinging at a high fastball, I told myself to take it easy a little bit. Just put a good at-bat out there, and if you have a good pitch to hit, take your swing.”

Judge certainly controlled his emotions in his final three at-bats, spitting on pitches outside of the zone and providing New York with some much-needed traffic on the bases. Anthony Rizzo had one hit in four at-bats behind Judge, but Giancarlo Stanton went 0-4, including a double play.

New York's offense quickly became one of MLB's worst when Judge went to the IL. Judge might have to carry the Yankees' offense if the team wants any hope of threatening the Orioles or making a deep playoff run.