Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira sidelined with neck spasms
Mark Teixeira #25 of the New York Yankees looks on from the dugout against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Credit: Jim McIsaac
It’s a pain in Mark Teixeira’s neck (and no, we’re not talking about the .195 batting average).
The Yankees first baseman was scratched from the lineup before Wednesday night’s game against the Blue Jays due to a recurring neck spasm that already has sidelined him once this season. Manager Joe Girardi said it might partially be the cause of Teixeira’s offensive swoon. He also said he doesn’t yet know the severity of the injury.
“It concerns me,” Girardi said. “It definitely concerns me . . . We don’t want to be without him. So, we’ll see what the doctor says.”
Girardi said Teixeira’s return to the lineup will depend on how he responds to treatment which, last time, called for injections in the affected area. Girardi said Teixeira has described his neck as being “locked up.”
Dustin Ackley played first Wednesday night, but Girardi said that if the injury lingers, Chase Headley, Austin Romine, Ronald Torreyes and Brian McCann are also options. Teixeira had singles in each of his last two games but had been hitless in his five previous games. Teixeira missed a game on May 10 and 11 due to neck spasms, but Girardi said he believed it went away after the rest.
However, “I think it’s had some effect” on his offense, Girardi said. “If you can’t move your neck the way you need to, you can’t move your neck as a hitter. It was feeling better . . . It’s just something that reared its ugly head again.”
Sanchez injured
Yankees top catching prospect Gary Sanchez was diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture of his right thumb Wednesday after seeing doctors in New York. Sanchez took a foul tip to the finger of his throwing hand Tuesday while playing for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and will head to the minor league disabled list. The Yankees said he would undergo more X-rays at the end of the two weeks. Sanchez was hitting .290 with six home runs and 26 RBIs in 34 games in Triple A.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
