DETROIT _ Two more wins for the Yankees.
But two more players headed home for visits with the team doctor.
And maybe a third.
After the Yankees took out the Tigers, 10-4, Wednesday afternoon in the first game of a straight doubleheader sweep at Comerica Park, Aaron Boone said Edwin Encarnacion, removed earlier in the game with what the club called a "left oblique strain," was New York-bound for additional testing.
Boone also disclosed that J.A. Happ, Wednesday's Game 1 starter who allowed two runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings in which he struck out seven, would be headed home as well because of left biceps tendinitis near his shoulder, a condition the veteran said he's been dealing with his last "three to five starts."
More? Of course there was more.
In the nightcap � a 6-4 Yankees victory that included Aaron Judge's 22nd homer of the season, Gio Urshela's 20th, Domingo German shining over four scoreless innings piggybacking CC Sabathia's start and Aroldis Chapman's 37th save � Gary Sanchez left the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with "left groin tightness."
It was not clear when the injury occurred or its severity. The catcher was thrown out trying to steal second for the final out of the top of the third, though he caught the bottom of the third. Kyle Higashioka replaced in the bottom of the fourth.
Boone indicated he didn't believe the injury for Encarnacion, who felt something in his first at-bat Wednesday, homered in his second at-bat (his 34th) and walked in his third plate appearance, was severe, using the word "minor" to describe it. For now.
"This was something that Edwin even took his third at-bat and we said with that, decided it was best to get him out of there," Boone said. "He said he wasn't feeling anything swinging. Hopefully we're ahead of it but we'll see."
Encarnacion is 11-for-34 with four homers and 10 RBIs in eight games since returning from the IL after missing a month with a right wrist fracture, came into the day with 13 homers and an .834 OPS since the Yankees acquired him from Seattle June 15.
"His presence in our lineup is huge," Boone said. "I don't want to start speculating when we don't know what it is and hoping it's minor. I think it goes without saying how big of a presence he is in the middle of our order."
Happ wasn't as sharp as in his two previous outings when he allowed no runs and a combined three hits, but was Ok and said his biceps had no impact on Wednesday's performance. He extended his scoreless innings streak to 20 before Dawel Lugo's two-run homer with two outs in the fifth cut the Yankees' lead to 4-2. Happ allowed those two runs, seven hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out seven.
"The fact I can go out there and throw and I feel like I've thrown the ball pretty well the last several (outings) is encouraging," Happ said. "So hopefully we can just knock out whatever is going on there."
As for the game, Luke Voit went 3-for-5 with a homer, a double and three RBIs and his home run, along with Encarnacion's, gave the Yankees (97-51) an MLB-leading 278, one ahead of the Twins (the Yankees last season hit a then-MLB-record 267 homers). Judge and Urshela's homers in the nightcap made it 280.
Judge went 1-for-2 with three walks and four runs and Austin Romine added three hits and a run in the opener. Judge crashed into the wall shoulder and wrist first making a catch in the second game but stayed in.
"We've got too much at stake right now and too great of a team to start at any time feeling sorry for ourselves," Boone said of the Yankees, who have put 30 players on the IL this season. "Everyone in that room is capable of doing really special things and that doesn't change."
