Aaron Hicks will be out at least four or five days with inflammation in his left shoulder suffered diving for a ball in center in Friday’s loss to the Rays in The Bronx.
The extent of the injury was revealed when Hicks’ shoulder didn’t improve Saturday and the team sent him for an MRI exam. Manager Joe Girardi called the injury “traumatic bursitis.”
Hicks won’t be placed on the disabled list immediately, with the Yankees calling it “day-to-day” and opting to play a man short for now.
“I’ll be down a couple of days,” Hicks said following the Yankees’ 3-2 win over Tampa Bay. “It all depends on how I feel.”
He admitted it felt a bit worse than Friday.
In the meantime, there’s a good chance Hicks would have gotten more playing time if he hadn’t gotten injured, since the Yankees are slated to face three more lefties over the next four games.
If he’s not well enough to get back on the field within the next five days, the Yankees still could put him on the disabled list and bring up an outfielder from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The Yankees’ bullpen depth took another blow Saturday when Branden Pinder learned he suffered a partial UCL tear in his elbow.
Girardi said the right-hander would need to decide whether to rehab the injury or elect to have season-ending Tommy John surgery
Pinder pitched just once for the Yankees this season after being recalled from SWB and didn’t figure to be a key part of the pen, but like Nick Rumbelow, who recently underwent elbow surgery, Pinder was another arm the Yankees could go to in order to keep the bullpen fresh.
“It’s two less choices we have,” Girardi said. “It definitely affects you. It’s frustrating because it’s two guys we felt would help us over the course of the year.”
Jacoby Ellsbury’s steal of home Friday night still was on people’s minds Saturday, especially since it came with two strikes and two outs in the inning.
“It’s a risky play 3-2,” Girardi said of the full count that Ellsbury took off on against Rays lefty Matt Moore with Brett Gardner at the plate.
If the ball was clearly a strike, Gardner may have been forced to swing at it, possibly endangering a charging Ellsbury.
“We tried to get his attention [earlier in the at-bat] because we thought he could do it,” Girardi said. “It’s not something you particularly want to do with two strikes. It’s a risky play, and when it works, you feel fortunate. You’d prefer not do it with two strikes and two outs.”
Brian McCann had his facemask knocked off on a Corey Dickerson backswing in the sixth. He was checked out by the training staff and stayed in the game.
