Reinforcements are near for the New York Yankees.

Manager Aaron Boone could have left-handed ace Max Fried back in the rotation by the trade deadline and Aaron Judge might not be far behind.

Fried was the starter Friday night for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, his first in-game action since he was placed on the injured list with a bone bruise after an outing May 13.

Fried was on a pitch count “in the low 50s” on Friday, Boone said. He’s already scheduled for at least one more start at Triple-A next week before the Yankees reassess his status.

There is less clarity around the return of Judge (rib) and another big bat, Giancarlo Stanton, who has resumed running but has no timetable for advancing to baseball workouts.

Judge was told to pause riding a stationary bike but has the green light to walk on a treadmill with a slight incline. He’s not ready to take batting practice or resume even stationary baseball activities.

He said Friday the latest imaging of his fractured rib on his right side showed “some improvement,” but he isn’t cleared for workouts due to the risk of re-injury.

“We’re not there yet. We’ll just continue to wait, let it heal,” Boone said. “I feel good about the fact that he’ll be back. It’s just a matter of when.

“Obviously we all want Aaron Judge back in the lineup. As I’ve said we have a lot of capable players. We finished the (first) half on a high note. We have to continue to play well and hopefully win ballgames knowing that at some point he’ll join us.”

Judge, a three-time American League MVP, has 17 homers and 38 RBIs in 59 games.

Sidelined since April 24 when Stanton hurt his calf against the Houston Astros, he’s not expected to be in the lineup this week. He has played only 24 games this season with three homers and 14 RBI. His current injured list stint is his seventh since joining the Yankees ahead of the 2018 season.

Boone said the Yankees are being patient with two other injured arms. Left-hander Carlos Rodon threw a 10-pitch bullpen session on Friday to provide the Yankees a live check of his progress recovering from inflammation in his left elbow.

Right-hander Clarke Schmidt is a potential discussion for August, Boone said. He’s recovering from his second Tommy John surgery. The Yankees scheduled Schmidt to throw against live hitting for the first time since the 2025 elbow surgery.

–Field Level Media

The Friday contest between the Pittsburgh Pirates and host Cleveland Guardians was postponed due to air quality conditions.

The game has been rescheduled for Saturday as part of a split doubleheader. The rescheduled contest is slated to begin at 1:10 p.m. ET and the regularly scheduled game will be pushed back to 7:10 p.m., three hours after initially scheduled.

The air quality in Cleveland was poor on Friday due to smoke coming from Canadian wildfires.

Cleveland right-hander Gavin Williams (10-4, 3.81 ERA) and Pittsburgh righty Jared Jones (1-1, 4.37) were the scheduled Friday starters and figure to be slotted into Saturday’s pitching plans.

All-Star right-hander Braxton Ashcraft (9-3, 3.49) of the Pirates and left-hander Joey Cantillo (8-4, 3.56) are listed as the starters for Saturday’s second game.

–Field Level Media

Bryson DeChambeau was handed a two-stroke penalty upon completion of the second round of the Open Championship on Friday in Southport, England, after R&A rules officials determined he had taken actions to improve his lie out of tall, native grass on a shot 13 holes earlier.

Rather than waking up in second place and the final pairing for the third round on Saturday, DeChambeau’s agent, Brett Falkoff, claimed on Friday night his fiery client instead wait until the sun rises again to decide whether to even participate in another hole at Royal Birkdale.

“He’s a lot of things. He’s not a cheater,” Falkoff told reporters as daylight ran thin Friday. “He’s a big boy. He’ll see how he feels. But he certainly feels he was unfairly penalized.”

DeChambeau, Falkoff claimed, plans to make the decision about returning to finish the final major of the season on his own and without input from others.

DeChambeau vehemently disagreed with the ruling when officials shuttled him back to the scene of the alleged misdeed before he could enter the scoring trailer to sign his second-round scorecard.

A popular but divisive figure in the world of golf, the member of LIV Golf originally posted a 4-under 66 to take second place at 7 under, one shot behind Australia’s Lucas Herbert. Now, DeChambeau will enter the weekend three behind Herbert instead of one, his bogey 5 at the fifth hole changed to a triple-bogey 7.

Following a session on the range commenced immediately after DeChambeau and his team left scoring, the narrative was less about the infraction and more about what comes next.

Walk away from a major championship with trailing the leader by three shots with 36 holes to go? Falkoff said Friday DeChambeau was “100 percent” serious.

Golf Channel broadcast cameras showed DeChambeau appear to tell rules officials “I just won’t play tomorrow” before they boarded multiple carts to return to the scoring trailer and the R&A released its decision.

DeChambeau hit his drive at the par-4 fifth hole far right and eventually found the ball in a native area. Replays showed the two-time major winner stamping down on different patches of tall grass near his ball. It may have affected not the lie of the ball, but the path for his eventual swing.

After news broke that officials were considering a two-stroke penalty, DeChambeau went back to the scene on the fifth hole with his caddie, agent and two rules officials to discuss the sequence of events. TV cameras captured a discussion several minutes long, and at points DeChambeau could be seen gesticulating and getting animated.

More than an hour after his round ended, the R&A, who organize The Open, finalized their official decision. A new score was reflected on the massive leaderboard between the 18th green and where DeChambeau stood ripping golf balls on the driving range.

–Field Level Media