ANAHEIM, Calif. — Despite hitting homers each of the previous two nights, Anthony Rizzo was out of the lineup on Wednesday, still dealing with the lower-back tightness that has plagued him since early August, when he missed five straight games.
“Just dealing with the back stuff still,” Aaron Boone said before the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Angels. “He got good results the last couple days, but it’s definitely something that’s weighing him down a little bit… It’s definitely in there and still bothering him.”
Boone said the first baseman is “dealing with some pain in there” and is not able to do the “level of exercises he usually does to prepare himself to play every day.”
But Boone added he’s not especially concerned.
“I think we have a good plan in place moving forward to get it corrected, but we’ve got to get there,” the manager said.
Rizzo may get consecutive days off at some point, but he’s not in danger of an IL stint at this point.
He’s hit the 30 home run mark for the sixth time of his career — and is just two short of his career-high of 32, which Rizzo has done three times.
Despite the good power numbers, Rizzo entered Wednesday hitting just .225, his lowest in a healthy season since 2013 — outside of the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
Before homering in back-to-back games, Rizzo had homered just once in his previous 17 games and gone 12-for-64 (.188) with just five walks and 23 strikeouts.
The Yankees should have a better idea soon of what their rotation is going to look like down the stretch.
Jameson Taillon is expected to play catch in Tampa on the team’s off day Thursday to see if he’ll be able to make his next start after suffering a right forearm contusion when he took a line drive off his arm Tuesday.
Luis Severino is scheduled to make his first rehab start on Friday with Low-A Tampa since going on the IL with a strained lat.
And Nestor Cortes, on the IL with a strained groin, threw a 35-pitch bullpen session and did some agility drills before Wednesday’s game at Angel Stadium and said he had no issues with the injury.
“I didn’t feel anything,’’ Cortes said. “I’m at full strength.”
Right-hander Tyler Duffey was added to the list of this week’s minor league pitching signings the Yankees made this week after the 31-year-old right-hander opted out of a minor league deal with the Rangers.
Duffey pitched eight seasons with the Twins before being released in early August.
He was very effective in Minnesota from 2018-20 and was also solid with the Twins a year ago, but had a WHIP of 1.364 in 40 appearances this season.
Since Duffey agreed to a deal before September, he would be eligible to pitch for the Yankees in the postseason- as would Jacob Barnes, who the Yankees signed to a minor league deal on Tuesday.
The Yankees have purchased a minority stake (10 percent) in Italian soccer champion AC Milan, which announced the closing of its latest ownership change Wednesday.
RedBird Capital Partners completed the deal to purchase a controlling interest in the seven-time European champion for 1.2 billion euros ($1.2 billion).
It’s the second soccer team the Yankees partially own after NYCFC.
— With AP
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