Yankees' Cody Bellinger out of starting lineup vs. Tigers with illness
New York Yankees' Cody Bellinger celebrates scoring against the Detroit Tigers in the eighth inning during a baseball game, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Detroit. Credit: AP/Paul Sancya
DETROIT — First his back, then his belly.
Outfielder Cody Bellinger, who missed games Friday and Saturday in Pittsburgh because of stiffness in his lower back, did not start Tuesday afternoon’s game against the Tigers here because of a bout with “food poisoning,” according to manager Aaron Boone.
“He’s been throwing up all night,” Boone said late Tuesday morning before his team’s 5-0 loss to the Tigers. “Hopefully he’s feeling a little bit better now, and we’ll see if we can get him going and make him somehow available as the game goes…I got a smile out of him back there laying down [in the trainer’s room] so we’ll see how he’s doing as the day unfolds.”
After the game, Boone said Bellinger felt “a lot better” and that the outfielder was available if needed, which he was not as Detroit ace Tarik Skubal dominated the Yankees for six innings and Carlos Carrasco got dinged for three home runs in the fourth inning.
Boone before the game said he thought the illness came about because of “some wings” the 29-year-old had Monday night. Boone did not know where Bellinger ingested them, but it was not at Comerica Park.
Like most visiting teams playing the Tigers, the Yankees stay in Birmingham, which is considered a suburb of Detroit, located about 30 minutes north of downtown.
Bellinger, whom the Yankees acquired via trade from the Cubs in the offseason, is hitting .233 with one homer, six RBIs and a .611 OPS in eight games.
Hammy’s back
Righthander Ian Hamilton, who started the season on the IL because of a viral infection in a tooth and gums that caused his spring to get delayed, made his season debut Tuesday in the seventh inning. After Javier Baez led off with a single, Hamilton struck out Justyn-Henry Mallow swinging at a slider, caught Kerry Carpenter – who homered in the fifth off Ryan Yarbrough – looking at a 94-mph sinker, then got Riley Greene to ground to short.
“Hammy was good,” Boone said. “Thought used his stuff well. Went through a couple of tough lefties (Carpenter and Greene), too. Thought he did a good job with his two and his four-seem, changing that up. Some good secondaries in there, so hopefully a good step for him in getting him acclimated and going.”
Schmidt countdown
Clarke Schmidt, who started the season on the IL with right rotator cuff tendinitis, is slated to make his second rehab outing Thursday with either Double-A Somerset or Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, his next time after that on the mound expected to be in the big leagues. The righthander struck out seven over 3 1/3 innings in his first rehab outing with Somerset late week.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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