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Marly RiveraESPN Writer
Shortstop Gleyber Torres became the last high-profile New York Yankees player to make the 10-day injured list, the team announced 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 after the diagnosis of grade 1 strains of his left quadriceps and left hamstring.
Torres’ hamstring strutted up and ran a grounder at the bottom of the third inning Thursday night. He was taken out of the game in the fifth inning and was replaced on shortstop by Tyler Wade. Torres is playing .231 with one home game and six RBIs this season.
Reliever Zack Britton was placed on the 10-day IL for Thursday’s game due to a punishing left hamstring. The Yankees also said an MRI revealed a grade 1 penalty from left-hander James Paxton’s left arm flexor.
Paxton went out Thursday night after five innings complaining of discomfort in his forearm / elbow area. The lefty starter deserved 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 was less than six months removed from back surgery after undergoing a microscopic lumbar discectomy to remove a peridiscal cyst and repair a repaired disc in February. He would miss the first six to eight weeks of the regular season if MLB had not shut down in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Paxton had shown problems with his speed this season, hovering over 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 lineup of the beleaguered Yankees is already without DJ LeMahieu (left thumb sprain), Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring penalties) and Aaron Judge (right bald sprain), although the referee was expected to be eligible for the IL first on Saturday . LeMahieu is the AL handball leader with an average of .411, and Judge has the nine most home games in the American League with nine.
With the addition of Torres, and with Luis Severino and Tommy Kahnle undergoing elbow surgery, the Yankees have eight players on the injured list, and that is after Aroldis Chapman and Luis Cessa in recent weeks returned from the COVID-19 IL.
The Yankees and Mets were due to play the first installment of the 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. 30-30 at Yankee Stadium and would be able to make some of the postponed games during this series.
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