Twins' Luis Arraez giving Aaron Judge a chance by playing through pain
Atop the Minnesota Twins lineup Tuesday night is Luis Arraez, who missed three of the last four games due to a hamstring injury.
With two games to go and the Twins out of playoff contention, Arraez could've rested his hammy and coasted to his first batting championship, but he's showing the world that he wants to earn it.
"I want to win the batting title fighting," Arraez said Monday.
Arraez leads the AL with a .315 batting average. Aaron Judge is second with a .310 clip following his 1-for-4 effort in Game 1 of New York's Tuesday doubleheader against the Rangers.
Not only is Judge looking to beat the AL home run record (61) set by Roger Maris in 1961 – which he has already tied – but if he surpasses Arraez he'll become only the second player since 1967 to win the batting triple crown. Judge leads league with 61 homers and 130 RBIs.
The Yankees have three games to play and if Judge gets 12 more at-bats he'd need six hits to get his average up to .314. If he gets just eight more at-bats he'd need four hits to get to .313.
Worst-case scenario for Arraez would be going 0-for-10 today and tomorrow. That would drop his average to .309. If he goes just 2-for-10 he'll finish with at .313, which would force Judge to go on a tear to top him.
And there's always the chance that Judge gets rested if he hits his 62nd homer.
Either way, Arraez is willing to duke it out.
"Everybody knows I'm competing to win the batting title," Arraez said Monday. "Everybody knows I want to play every day. I work hard in my offseason for that. But 100 percent, I don't feel good today. If I wake up good tomorrow, I'll tell Rocco I'll go play. I want to play. I want to finish my season strong. I want to play."
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