Shortstop Gleyber Torres became the latest high-profile New York Yankees player to land on the 10-day injured list, sources told ESPN on Friday afternoon. The Yankees were optimistic that Torres' injury was minor, but an MRI on Friday morning confirmed that a stint on the injured list was required, although it is mostly a good-news scenario with the diagnosis of a mild left hamstring strain.
Torres' hamstring tightened up running out a grounder in the bottom of the third inning Thursday night. He was taken out of the game in the fifth inning and was replaced by Tyler Wade at shortstop. Torres is batting .231 with one home run and six RBIs this season.
Reliever Zack Britton was placed on the 10-day IL before the game Thursday because of a strained left hamstring. The Yankees are now waiting on MRI results for left-hander James Paxton.
Paxton exited Thursday night's start after five innings complaining of discomfort in his forearm/elbow area. The lefty starter earned a no-decision after allowing three runs on one hit over five innings, with four walks and eight strikeouts. The Rays beat the Yankees 10-5 to sweep the three-game series in the Bronx and take over first place in the AL East.
The 30-year-old lefty is less than six months removed from back surgery, after undergoing a microscopic lumbar diskectomy to remove a peridiskal cyst and repair a herniated disk back in February. He would have missed the first six to eight weeks of the regular season if MLB had not shut down in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Paxton had shown problems with his velocity this season, hovering around 92-93 mph, down from his 2019 average of 95.4 mph. Paxton is 1-1 with a 6.64 ERA in five starts this season.
The beleaguered Yankees' lineup is already without DJ LeMahieu (left thumb sprain), Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain) and Aaron Judge (right calf sprain), although Judge was expected to be activated off the IL when first eligible on Saturday. LeMahieu is the AL batting leader with a .411 average, and Judge has the second-most home runs in the American League with nine.
With the addition of Torres, and with Luis Severino and Tommy Kahnle having undergone elbow surgery, the Yankees have eight players on the injured list, and that's after Aroldis Chapman and Luis Cessa returned from the COVID-19 IL in recent weeks.
The Yankees and the Mets were supposed to play the first installment of the 2020 Subway Series this weekend, but the three games at Citi Field were postponed after two positive tests for COVID-19 in the Mets organization. The teams are scheduled to play three more games Aug. 28-30 at Yankee Stadium and should be able to make up some of the postponed games during that series.