CLEVELAND — The Yankees were down two key regulars Wednesday for their series finale against the Guardians.
DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres were held out of the starting lineup because of injuries — quad tightness for LeMahieu and hip flexor tightness for Torres — before the Yankees went on to capture a wild 4-3 win.
Torres said he was feeling much better than he was Tuesday night, when he first started experiencing soreness while running the bases on a hit in the ninth inning and then was pulled for the bottom of the frame.
He ended up pinch-running for Giancarlo Stanton in the ninth inning Wednesday and came around from second to score the winning run.
LeMahieu began feeling tightness in his quad during the game Tuesday, according to manager Aaron Boone, and was still feeling some lingering tightness Wednesday morning.
“Don’t want to force anything there,” Boone said. “I do think it’s a day-to-day kind of situation, but something obviously we gotta pay attention to.”
Boone said no tests were planned for LeMahieu as of Wednesday morning.
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“We’ll see where we’re at [Thursday] with it,” Boone said. “We’ll just kind of take it day by day right now.”
With LeMahieu and Torres — the two players Boone has used to hit leadoff this season — out, Anthony Volpe batted first on Wednesday.
A toe injury derailed the second half of LeMahieu’s season last year, but Boone did not believe the quad tightness has anything to do with compensating for his toe.
“I think toe-wise he’s 100 percent,” Boone said. “I don’t think it’s related.”
Boone said he expected to have Torres back in the lineup on Thursday when the Yankees open a homestand with a series against the Twins.
“I don’t feel anything right now,” Torres said Wednesday morning. “A little bit tired because I did a lot of work [getting treatment] last night, but nothing I’m worried about or pain.”
Clarke Schmidt had his longest outing of the season Wednesday, throwing four innings and giving up three runs. He was burned by weak contact for the two runs in the controversial first inning before allowing a home run on a cutter to Amed Rosario in the third.
“I think it was a really good step in the right direction,” said Schmidt, who struck out three and walked one.
Second base umpire Larry Vanover left the game in the fifth inning after being hit in the head by a relay throw from Cleveland second baseman Andres Gimenez. Vanover, who was taken to a local hospital to undergo a CT scan, walked off the field on his own power with a Guardians trainer next to him.
“He didn’t even know the ball hit him, actually,” home plate umpire Chris Guccione told a pool reporter. “We were like, ‘Larry, you’re leaving.’ He was stubborn, but … I would say he wasn’t fully coherent, but he was partially coherent. He was definitely glazy.”
Despite the Yankees’ solid start to the season, they still started Wednesday four games out of first place in the AL East because the Rays had raced out to an 11-0 record.
“Wow, what a start,” Boone said. “I’m not surprised, because I feel like I thought heading into this year that they were really good, both from a pitching [standpoint] and where their roster’s at position player-wise and different things. I don’t think you ever expect anyone to start 11-0, right? But we also know they’re an excellent team.”
