NEW YORK — Yankees first baseman Luke Voit left Tuesday night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks because of a core muscle injury, the team said.
Voit was undergoing an MRI when manager Aaron Boone addressed reporters following the 4-2 Yankees loss.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Boone said.
Once the MRI results come back, the Yankees will have a clearer idea of how long Voit might be sidelined.
Voit was removed in the top of the fifth inning, when backup infielder Tyler Wade — called up to the Yankees’ active roster Sunday — entered in Voit’s cleanup spot in the batting order. Wade took over at third base, and third baseman Gio Urshela moved over to Voit’s spot at first.
A swing Voit had during a strikeout in the bottom of the third raised a few eyebrows in the Yankees’ dugout. They thought something looked a little off.
Even Wade noticed it, and as Voit was going through an initial evaluation with trainers, the backup began loosening up to enter the game off the bench. By the eighth inning, Wade’s presence had impact, as he clubbed a solo homer.
Aside from the awkward swing, Voit told Boone and the training staff that he had been having trouble getting loose all day, the manager said.
“He just said, ‘I just had a hard time getting loose before the game and all game,'” Boone said. “He didn’t feel like he did anything to it.
“His explanation was he couldn’t put his finger on it.”
In the meantime, Wade remains a backup infield option in Voit’s absence. Most directly, designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion could move into a more regular first-base role if Voit has to miss any significant time. Urshela and DJ LeMahieu, whom the Yankees have been slowly easing back after a slight groin strain over the weekend, could be options at first in Voit’s absence, too.
Banged-up first baseman Greg Bird, who continues to work through a plantar fascia injury while at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa, Florida, is “not an option right now,” Boone said.
This the second time this season Voit has dealt with an injury around his torso. On July 2, he landed on the 10-day injured list due to an abdominal strain he suffered three days earlier in a game against the Boston Red Sox on London Stadium’s artificial turf. Voit was rounding first base on a double when he felt that initial discomfort.
Voit returned to action 11 days after he went on the IL that time.
Voit is batting .278 with 19 homers and 54 RBIs in 94 games this season.
“It’s tough,” said right fielder Aaron Judge. “One of your best hitters goes down with who knows what. … But like I’ve said before, when people go down, people step up.”