Another setback for Yankees reliever Dellin Betances

A week ago Dellin Betances seemed on the verge of returning to the Yankees.

Now it’s very much in question when, and even if, the righthander will take the mound for them.

Betances, who started the season on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement, now has a lat issue. An MRI taken Tuesday showed a “low-grade strain” of his lat, manager Aaron Boone said, requiring the reliever to be shut down “for a few weeks.”

Betances, a free agent after the season, had progressed to the point at which he threw to hitters last Wednesday in an intrasquad camp game in Tampa. But he felt soreness a day later in his lat area and a scheduled side session for Friday was canceled. Betances flew home to New York Monday and was evaluated by Christopher Ahmad, the team doctor.

“I guess good news is that it is a low-level strain, but obviously frustrating, especially because the shoulder's good and he was feeling good and now a little slowdown,” Boone said. “So we'll support him right now and hopefully this few weeks down, and then [we’ll] ramp him back up. As I talked to him before I walked back in here, he's still going to play a big role for us this year, just a little later than we thought.”

Farquhar promoted

Righthander Danny Farquhar, who suffered an aneurysm and brain hemorrhage on April 20, 2018, between innings of a game while pitching for the White Sox, was promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Farquhar, who signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees in the offseason and appeared in three spring training games, had been in Tampa in extended spring training since the season started building arm strength.

Stanton rehab latest

Giancarlo Stanton went 2-for-4, including what one opposing team scout described as “an opposite-field bomb” home run, in a rehab start at DH for High-A Tampa. Boone has said Stanton could rejoin the team by Monday when the Yankees play the Rays at home.

Extra bases

Jonathan Loiasiga, for the first time in his rehab, threw on flat ground Tuesday morning at 60 feet. “That went well,” Boone said…Pitching coach Larry Rothschild was away from the team Tuesday for personal reasons.