NEW YORK – Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that right fielder Aaron Judge continues to make progress with his throwing program. As recently as Friday, Judge threw 150 feet and hopes to start throwing to the bases soon, according to the skipper.

Judge hasn’t played the outfield since July 25 after hurting his flexor tendon in his right elbow against the Blue Jays four days earlier. Judge hurt the elbow in the sixth inning after trying to throw out Davis Schneider at the plate. Schneider ended up scoring on a single by George Springer. Grimacing in pain an inning later, Judge stayed in that game and went on to play the next two games against Toronto and the Phillies.

Judge, who declined to talk about the progress in his right arm, even spent 10 days on the Injured List. But after being activated from the IL on Aug. 5 , Judge has been strictly a designated hitter and hasn’t found his groove at the plate, going 23-for-55 [.218] with three homers and seven RBIs. Boone believes the injury has nothing to do with the slump.

The Yankees are 9-7 during that span, but lost their last three games against the Red Sox. Boston has a chance to sweep the series Sunday night at Yankee Stadium. New York is 6.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East and a half game ahead the Mariners for the second spot in the A.L. Wild Card Race.

Judge made it simple to the local media: The entire team has to step up and play better.

“It doesn’t matter who we are facing, whether it ‘s the Rays, Red Sox, Tigers, whomever. We have to do our best. We haven’t done it the last couple of games,” Judge said. “… The coaches can’t fix it. The fans can fix it. It’s the players in this room. We have to step up. That’s what it comes down to.”

With Judge unable to play right field, Giancarlo Stanton has seen most of the time in right field because of his sizzling bat. Stanton, however, is a liability with the glove because of injuries to his lower body over the years. The Red Sox took advantage of that fact in Saturday’s 12-1 victory by taking the extra base in the ninth inning when they scored seven runs.

“That’s the challenge with him going out there. I thought he made a couple of pretty good throws, but you live with some limitations out there,” Boone said.