Tommy Kahnle scheduled to start rehab assignment Thursday

TORONTO — Tommy Kahnle finally appears rehab-ready.

The righthander, who began the season on the injured list with right biceps tendinitis and currently is on the 60-day injured list, is scheduled to start a rehab assignment Thursday with Class A Tampa, Aaron Boone said Monday,

Boone said Kahnle, assuming all goes well, will pitch again for Tampa “probably on Sunday.”

The reliever, signed to a two-year, $11.5 million free-agent deal during the offseason, will rejoin the Yankees when they return home from this trip, then likely head to either Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre or Double-A Somerset to continue the rehab assignment.

“We want him to get at least four outings in,” Boone said. “We have a fifth one scheduled, too, [but] we’ll just kind of see where we’re at by the end of the month as far as whether it’s going to be four or five or six outings. But everything’s going according to plan so far.”

Kahnle is eligible to come off the 60-day IL May 29.

Bader, LeMahieu OK

Harrison Bader and DJ LeMahieu, two of the Yankees’ most productive hitters this season, were out of the starting lineup Monday in the opener of a four-game series against Toronto but are healthy, Boone said. He said he would not hesitate to use either player Monday night if the need arose.

Judge’s week to come

Boone said Aaron Judge is likely to DH Tuesday and possibly could have one or two other DH days on this trip. The Toronto series will be followed by three games this weekend in Cincinnati.

Rizzo honored

Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo  was named the American League Player of the Week after going 12-for-27 (.444) with three homers, a double, seven RBIs, 10 runs and a .500 on-base percentage. 

Rizzo previously won the award three times, all with the Cubs, most recently in August 2018. He entered Monday hitting .312 with  nine homers, 22 RBIs and a .921 OPS, leading the team in each of those categories, in 41 games.

“He’s been a stabilizing force for us,” Boone said.

The fire inside

Pitching coach Matt Blake is easygoing and friendly, but that should not be confused for laid-back when it comes to his job. Blake, hired to replace Larry Rothschild before the 2020 season, earned his fourth ejection Sunday,  again for arguing balls and strikes. Rothschild, also far more intense than he projected,  was ejected four times in his tenure as pitching coach from 2011-19.

Going deep

Bills quarterback Josh Allen was on the field about four hours before the game taking batting practice. Quite a few Yankees personnel, including Nestor Cortes, Ron Marinaccio, Aaron Hicks, Anthony Volpe, Blake and assistant hitting coach Brad Wilkerson, took in the session from the visitor’s dugout, with several of them recording it on their phones. Allen, after a slow start, hit a small handful of home runs, including one into the second deck in left. Matt Barkley, Allen’s backup in Buffalo, hit the most of the group, sending five over the wall.