Yankees' DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres sit with minor injuries

CLEVELAND – A pair of Yankees infielders were held out of the starting lineup Wednesday afternoon with what appear to be mild ailments.

But still ones worth watching.

DJ LeMahieu’s in particular.

LeMahieu, who had been getting the bulk of playing time at third in Josh Donaldson’s absence, was also on the bench as manager Aaron Boone said the veteran was dealing with a quad issue.  

“His quad tightened up on him a little bit last night and it was still tight this morning,” Aaron Boone said before the Yankees’ wild 4-3 victory over the Guardians. “Obviously, don't want to force anything there...I do think it's a day-to-day kind of situation, but something that we’ve got to pay attention to.”

Boone said no tests were scheduled for LeMahieu and he said “not necessarily” when asked if he anticipated the player being down for at least the next couple of days.

“No. We'll see where we're at tomorrow with it,” Boone said. “We’ll just take it day-by-day right now.”

Gleyber Torres did not start at second after coming out of Tuesday night’s game in the ninth inning with tightness in his hip flexor area.

He said Wednesday morning in the clubhouse he felt he could have been in the lineup Wednesday afternoon and would be available off the bench.

“Last night it was a little bit sore but [we] did treatment and everything last night and today I woke up [feeling] really well,” Torres said. “I don’t feel anything.”

Torres ended up entering the game in the ninth, pinch running for Giancarlo Stanton after the rightfielder reached second base on a throwing error by Cleveland shortstop Amed Rosario. He scored the go-ahead run on Oswaldo Cabrera's two-out single.

As a result of the injuries, Cabrera got the start at second for Torres and ended up delivering a critical hit, a laser off the wall in right against Emmanuel Clase that made it 4-3. Isiah Kiner-Falefa started for LeMahieu at third and went 1-for-4 with an error. Anthony Volpe, off to a 4-for-31 (.129) start at the plate and on the bench to start Tuesday night’s game, took LeMahieu’s spot at the top of the order Wednesday after batting ninth his first 10 games of the year. The rookie doubled to left in his first at-bat of the day, going 1-for-4.

Cordero keeps it going

Franchy Cordero’s 439-foot homer to lead off the seventh gave him four homers and 11 RBIs in his first seven games of the season (the blast also tied the game at 3-3). His 11 RBIs are the most in a player’s first seven career games as a Yankee since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920, according to baseball researcher Sarah Langs.