On the day they welcomed back Aaron Hicks, the Yankees dealt with two more injuries. Jonathan Loaisiga, Monday's scheduled starter, was placed on the injured list with a sore right shoulder and won't pick up a baseball for four weeks. Luis Cessa was tapped to start against Baltimore.
The second injury may be more serious. Miguel Andujar, who has struggled since returning from a shoulder injury, was back on the 10-day IL.
The Yankees thought Andujar had dodged season-ending surgery, but last year's AL Rookie of the Year runner-up is back to being a candidate to go under the knife, Boone said.
Andujar has already lost his third base job to Gio Urshela. Now, Boone said, the Yankees are going to do more tests on Andujar's injury, which the team called a small tear in the labrum in his right shoulder when Andujar initially went on the IL on April 1.
"We'll see," Boone said when asked if surgery was back on the table. "He's got a couple opinions going into this and both were not surgery. I think we'll look at this again as far as reimaging, reevaluating. I wouldn't say it's necessarily off the table, but I wouldn't say even more so that it's on now. It's just we've got to get a better handle on this and then probably just get him built up in the best way possible if we can move forward with that."
The Yankees tried that after Andujar was injured diving back into third base on a pickoff attempt on March 31. Andujar returned on May 4, made two errors at third in his first game back, and has been used mostly as a designated hitter. But he has three hits in 34 at-bats since coming off the IL and is batting .128 with one RBI in 12 games this season.
Last year, Andujar hit .297 with 47 doubles, 27 homers and 92 RBIs in 149 games. His absence has been mitigated by the surprising emergence of Urshela, who went into Monday batting .341 with two homers and 15 RBIs in 32 games and has flashed stellar defense at third base.
Boone said it's possible the shoulder injury has affected Andujar's production since his return from the IL.
"(I) do feel like the injury is certainly a contributing factor to some of the struggles," Boone said. "I think we'll kind of reassess all of that and then try and get a plan in place to try to get him back."
The Yankees announced Andujar's return to the IL at 5:30 p.m., about an hour before Monday's scheduled game time. They recalled pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr. from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
"It's something that we might do here real quickly," Boone said at about 4:10 p.m. "Just kind of give it a little timeout to kind of declare itself a little bit more and reevaluate it. That's a decision we might make here quickly, especially if we're able to get somebody in here."
The Yankees have had 17 players on the IL this season. Andujar is the first one to go on twice.
The Yankees already made four other roster moves before Monday's game. Hicks was activated from the IL and was put in the lineup at the leadoff spot to make his season debut. Mike Tauchman was sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Also, Loaisiga was placed on the 10-day IL with a right shoulder strain. As a minor leaguer, Loaisiga missed two seasons with a shoulder injury. He has also had Tommy John surgery on his elbow.
Loaisiga was filling in for James Paxton, who is on the IL with left knee inflammation. Boone said he expected Cessa to go 2-3 innings. The Yankees recalled starter Chance Adams from Triple-A to provide backup.
