Anthony Rizzo to go on Yankees injury list because of headaches suffered after epidural in back

Anthony Rizzo will go  on the injured list after all, though it wasn’t a direct result of the lower-back tightness that’s bothered him since at least June.

Aaron Boone indicated Rizzo, who hasn’t appeared in a game since last Wednesday in Anaheim, will be put  on the IL because of side effects from an epidural shot the 33-year-old first baseman received from a back specialist in California last Thursday.

“Frankly, I don't I think it's anything back  related now, it's just dealing with [and] getting the headaches [out] and stuff like that,” Boone said after it was announced Tuesday night’s game against the Twins had been postponed and will be made up as part of a straight doubleheader Wednesday, which is slated to begin at 3 p.m.  “He's still under doctor's orders to rest. There's at least going to be a few days ramp-up once we get him going, so we just have to get him to that point. So that's been a little frustrating for him the last couple of days.”

Boone said the Yankees don’t have a timeline for when Rizzo will be cleared to resume baseball activities – he was supposed to do so Monday before the setback occurred with the side effects – and, because of that, the club promoted first baseman Ronald Guzman from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The lefty-swinging Guzman, who hit 31 homers in 243 games across four seasons (2018-21) with the Rangers was hitting .260 with 12 homers and an .823 OPS in 90 games with Scranton.

“I really liked what I saw in spring training. And the reports have been that really for about a month and a half now, he's been swinging the bat really well,” Boone said. “He's hurt us over the years, in small bursts (with the Rangers). He had a three-homer game here. So we've seen that out of him, unfortunately, on the other side. But I really liked what I saw from him in spring. I was pushing hard for him to be a guy that stayed with us, that I felt like at some point could be a guy that helped us. And to see the way he's been swinging the bat the last month and a half put him in position for this.”

Said Guzman: “It's been a long process, but I feel really good at the plate right now. Just trusting the process and doing the things that I believe that would work for me and (get me) here, so very pumped.”

The same could not be said of Rizzo, who missed four games in early July because of the same back issue and then five more in early August. Boone said indications are the epidural shot had the desired effect on the back as it doesn’t seem to be giving Rizzo as much trouble, but the epidural has had other effects, too.

The Yankees are assuming so, at any rate, as Boone said doctors haven’t been able to say with certainty the epidural is causing the headaches.

“He had the epidural and now the headaches, [but] it's hard to tell,” Boone said. “They're trying to get their heads around just why exactly he's having these headaches. Once he gets up and moving, he just kind of can't do much.”

While the latest injury news regarding Rizzo was decidedly not good, the latest on Giancarlo Stanton was more neutral. Stanton was pinch hit for in the eighth inning Monday after multiple times in the game fouling pitches off of his left foot, including during his sixth-inning at-bat.

“Stanton was better today; he’s in getting treatment now,” Boone said. “A little sore, but he's doing better. I was not going to play him today. We'll see where we are tomorrow.”

Stanton is 4-for-38 (.105) since coming off the IL.