NEW YORK -- Luke Voit bent at home plate in the ninth inning on Saturday, unbuckling his shin guard and attempting his best sales job to convince home plate umpire Andy Fletcher to call a fourth ball that would keep the Yankees' late rally humming against Blue Jays closer Daniel Hudson.

No dice, as the slugger was punched out on a called third strike that sealed New York's 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. Voit worked a pair of walks in his return from the injured list, but departed the ballpark chapped by striking out looking in his final two at-bats of the day.

"I had good at-bats," Voit said. "Obviously the last two they made good pitches; they're big league pitchers, you know. I felt good overall. It's frustrating because I had a chance to help the team today and I didn’t come through, but it’s baseball. It’s going to happen sometimes."

After viewing video of the pitch sequence, Voit acknowledged that Fletcher probably made the right call on the game-ending pitch. The Yanks did have gripes with the strike zone, however; manager Aaron Boone was chapped by a seventh-inning pitch to Aaron Judge that appeared to be inside.

"I was a little upset because that could be the ballgame right there," Judge said. "If I walk right there and Voit comes up and hits a three-run homer, it could be a different story."

Voit had been adamant that his lower abdominal strain would not keep him out of the Yankees' lineup for long, and indeed, the slugging first baseman returned to action on Saturday having missed only eight games. Voit was injured running the bases on June 29 against the Red Sox in London.

"I'm excited to get him back," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said prior to the game. "Obviously [he's] a guy that gets on base a ton, another power bat. He just adds a little bit more length to our lineup. It was good to see him walk in with all his bags and his muscles this morning."

A solid candidate for the All-Star Game at the time of his injury, Voit was batting .280/.393/.509 with 17 homers and 50 RBIs in 78 games before his return.

The Yankees considered sending him on a Minor League rehab assignment, but Boone said that the 28-year-old satisfied the club’s medical staff while working out at the team's player development complex in Tampa, Fla., over the All-Star break.

"Everything feels good," Voit said. "Hitting feels good, defense and running [too]. I guess it’s just getting my timing back hitting. I wasn’t swinging at bad pitches, so you take the positive out of it. I walked twice, which was good. The strikeouts were frustrating, but sometimes you've got to tip your cap."

Comeback trail

Cameron Maybin ran on the field, played catch and took batting practice at Yankee Stadium on Saturday morning, marking the outfielder's first on-field activity since he sustained a left calf strain on June 22.

Maybin said that he hopes to begin a Minor League rehabilitation assignment in about a week.

"I feel pretty close," Maybin said. "I’m just trying to continue to communicate with the training staff and trying to be patient. That’s very different. I’ve seen a lot of guys in [the trainer’s room] this year, so I understand where they are as far being cautious."

The 32-year-old Maybin said that he has not yet run the bases, but already believes that he is faster than anyone in the Yankees' clubhouse other than Brett Gardner.

"I’m faster than Gardy when I’m healthy," Maybin said, with his locker neighbor Gardner within earshot. "Right now, I’m about 98 percent. I need to be 100 percent to beat Gardy."

HBD, DJ

Saturday marked DJ LeMahieu 31st birthday and it has been a banner year so far for the versatile infielder, who led the American League in the first half with a .336 batting average. That marked the second-highest average prior to the All-Star break by a Yankee since 2000, behind Derek Jeter's .345 average in ‘06.

"From afar, I've always kind of admired the player he has been," Boone said. "I think, as an organization, we identified this winter that he was a guy we wanted to go after. I would say he has obviously lived up to every expectation we could have hoped for. He's been one of the MVPs of the league so far."

What's up, Doc?

Luis Severino (right lat strain) is scheduled to be examined by team physician Chris Ahmad during Saturday's game, with hopes of resuming a throwing program in the near future.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has said that even if cleared, Severino is at least six weeks away from pitching in a big league game. With that in mind, Cashman has suggested Severino could be used as an abbreviated starter (75 or so pitches), or even out of the bullpen.

"First things first, we’ve got to get him cleared to start a throwing program, and then all of that starts," Boone said. "And then obviously he’s going to take a while to get built up, so it just kind of depends where we are in the season.

"The hope is that he could come back as a starter, but depending on how much he’s able to get built up and how much season we have left when he’s finally getting there, then you could get creative with different roles for him because he’s obviously such a good pitcher."

This date in Yankees history

July 13, 1985: The uniform numbers of Roger Maris (9) and Elston Howard (32) were retired during an on-field ceremony at Yankee Stadium.