(Photo credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)

While the New York Yankees are seeking clarity on Aaron Judge's bone bruise in his rib, they also hope Jose Ramirez's bat cools down.

The Yankees, who will host Ramirez and the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday afternoon, will be without Judge for the third straight game because of the injury, which is impacting his right shoulder.

On Tuesday, Ramirez hit three doubles in Cleveland's 9-4 win over the Yankees. On Wednesday, Judge was getting a second opinion from a specialist, and New York did not announce the results after Ramirez homered off Gerrit Cole and collected three more hits in the Guardians' 5-4 victory.

'We just want clarity on what we're exactly dealing with,' Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Judge's injury. 'Then we can set the course of action and kind of have an idea what the timeline is going to be.'

New York is 1-5 in its past six home games and has not scored more than four runs in any of those games. The only win in that span occurred when Judge hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning for a 2-0 win over Tampa Bay on May 24.

Jose Caballero replaced Judge in right field during the past two games and homered Wednesday, but the Yankees finished with five hits and struck out 10 times after fanning 11 times on Tuesday.

'It's tough when guys get hurt, but unfortunately, it's part of the game,' Cole said. 'As a team, you've got to figure out how to step up in those situations, and so that's what we'll do.'

Ramirez is 6-for-9 in the first two games of the three-game set and is batting .333 over his past 18 games to raise his batting average 38 points to .245. He also has 10 runs in that stretch, including four of Cleveland's 14 runs in this series.

'Obviously got off to a slow start for him, which most people in the league would love the start he got off to,' Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. 'He's been hitting the ball hard all year, but these last couple of weeks it's starting to look like Jose.'

Ramirez is not the only Cleveland hitter rolling lately.

Kyle Manzardo is hitting .360 in his past seven games after homering and doubling twice on Wednesday, and Rhys Hoskins is batting .304 over his past eight games after hitting a two-run homer and an RBI single on Wednesday.

Ramirez also is hitting .412 in 36 career regular-season games at Yankee Stadium and is a .344 hitter in 69 career regular-season contests against the Yankees. He will attempt to help the Guardians secure a series sweep in New York for the first time since 2017, and the third baseman's first at-bats on Thursday will be against left-hander Carlos Rodon, against whom he is 13-for-48 (.271).

Rodon (1-2, 3.32 ERA) has issued 13 walks in his first four starts back from offseason elbow surgery. The left-hander allowed a run in each of his past two outings against Toronto and the Athletics, respectively.

Rodon is 10-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 23 career appearances (21 starts) against the Guardians, whom he no-hit in 2021 while pitching for the White Sox.

Right-hander Slade Cecconi (3-5, 5.25), who is 3-1 with a 4.31 ERA in his past six starts, will start for Cleveland on Thursday. He allowed three runs or less for the fifth straight start when he permitted three runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings during a no-decision against Boston on Friday. The Guardians won 4-3.

Cecconi is 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA in two appearances against the Yankees.

--Field Level Media