DJ LeMahieu back in lineup despite hip/groin issue

BOSTON — Vague was the order of the day on Sunday when it came to DJ LeMahieu and what Aaron Boone had called the "hip/groin thing" that kept the infielder out of Saturday's lineup.

LeMahieu was back in for Sunday night’s game against the Red Sox — starting at third and batting leadoff — but neither he nor Boone offered much in the way of specifics.

"I think it just impacts him a little bit overall, you know, sometimes moving around, sometimes running,'' Boone said. "I don't want to get too much into it, but it's just something that he's kind of dealing with and kind of grinding through or trying to treat as best we can."

LeMahieu, hitting .268 with a .712 OPS in 146 games coming into Sunday, simply said "I’m good" when asked what he was feeling.

He said the rest of the regular season — and postseason, if the Yankees make it — will be about maintenance of the discomfort.

What exactly is it?

"Not exactly sure yet," he said.

LeMahieu, 26-for-89 (.292) with a .711 OPS in his last 23 games going into Sunday, did acknowledge that the hip/groin issue — he had an MRI that the team was "talking about right now" — has limited him "moving around" in the field.

LeMahieu said he doesn’t anticipate feeling 100% the rest of the season and that the discomfort is something he’ll just try to manage as best he can the rest of the way.

"I just kind of told them, let’s worry about it after the season," he said.

Is offseason surgery a possibility?

"I’m not sure yet," LeMahieu said.

He said the discomfort is something he’s been dealing with for "a little while, but I feel like the last few weeks it hasn’t felt great."

How has it impacted him?

"I’m not moving as quickly," LeMahieu said before smiling. "Not that I’m the quickest out there, but it’s limiting a little bit, but it’s not the time of the season to be resting it a bunch. We’re just going to keep rolling with it and worry about it after the season . . . Hopefully it gets better, but it hasn’t."

Rotation set for Toronto

Boone disclosed the Yankees’ rotation for this week’s important three-game series against the Blue Jays, which starts Tuesday at Rogers Centre. Jameson Taillon, out since Sept. 7 with a tear in a tendon in his right ankle, will go Tuesday, followed by Gerrit Cole on Wednesday and Corey Kluber on Thursday. Boone said Nestor Cortes Jr., who allowed two runs and four hits in 4 1/3 innings in Saturday’s 5-3 victory over the Red Sox, likely will start the series opener against the Rays on Friday at the Stadium. The Rays clinched the AL East title Saturday but still are trying to clinch the American League's No. 1 seed.