The New York Yankees have called up outfielder Estevan Florial from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, a little bit of cover after Brett Gardner was hit by a pitch in Friday night’s win.
“Just to give us some coverage there; Gardy is good, but he’s stiff and sore like you’d expect, so we’ll see how available he is for today off the bench,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Hopefully in the next day or two he’ll be able to get back in there.”
Gardner was hit on the right elbow by an 89 MPH pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning of Friday’s 10-2 win over Minnesota. He stayed in to run the bases – DJ LeMahieu grounded into a double play to end that inning – and played the sixth defensively, but was replaced in center field by Tyler Wade in the seventh.
“It stiffened up on him a bit, so just wanted to get him out of there, get some treatment, get some ice going,” Boone said. “Hopefully it’s something that he’s back quickly.”
Gardner, who was 2-for-2 with an RBI prior to leaving, has been hot of late, going 22-for-77 (.286) over his last 28 games. He has also been one of the Yankees’ stalwarts in a season ravaged by injuries in COVID, ranking third on the team with 105 games played through Friday.
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However, with Jonathan Davis recently sent back down, the Yankees were down to just four true outfielders, and with Joey Gallo getting a day off Saturday, Aaron Judge was manning center field with Wade in left and Giancarlo Stanton in right, so Florial could be the next man up if something happens.
“Been wanting to get (Gallo) one, and felt like I needed to do that today,” Boone said.
The Yankees had opened a 26-man roster spot Friday night by optioning RHP Brody Koerner to Triple-A after the game.
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