One of the Yankees’ better pitchers who owns perhaps the Yankees’ best pitch will miss some time.
Fernando Cruz, though, does not anticipate missing that much time.
“I’m going to be back soon,” said the righty, who was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Monday, before the 1-0 win over the Rangers in The Bronx on Thursday.
Cruz hopes he will be sidelined for just the minimum 15 days after dealing with a shoulder issue for the past three weeks that he aggravated in his most recent appearance Saturday against the Mets.
The righty underwent tests that showed inflammation but “everything looks good, everything looks normal,” Cruz said. After the MRI, the plan was for Cruz to receive a cortisone shot and take a few days off. The shot had drained his strength, Cruz said.
Cruz had not thrown for several days — which is why he was not used Wednesday, the Yankees instead pitching Ian Hamilton for a second straight day — before beginning to build his arm up again Thursday. He threw on the field and will join the team on the upcoming road trip to continue throwing.
“I still feel like the shot put my arm in a weak position,” said Cruz, who anticipates his next week and a half will be spent strengthening his shoulder so he can be activated once eligible.
“We don’t think it’s anything too significant,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So, hopefully, this little downtime gets him where he needs to be.”
The Yankees will miss Cruz, who has been an excellent setup man since arriving from the Reds and owns a 2.66 ERA with 35 strikeouts in 23 ²/₃ innings, his splitter virtually untouchable.
To replace the righty, the Yankees called up Brent Headrick, who had pitched well with the Yankees to begin the season (5 ¹/₃ scoreless innings) before being optioned and had missed some time with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with an oblique injury.
The hard-throwing lefty can cover multiple innings, which is significant for a tired bullpen.
“He’s a guy we’ve liked since spring training and feel like can really help us,” Boone said.
Cooper Hummel triggered his release clause Wednesday after 10 games and a .705 OPS with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The Yankees have 72 hours to add, trade or release him.
Whether the switch-hitting utilityman would help more than Pablo Reyes is probably a question the Yankees are asking about their 26th roster spot.
Cody Bellinger had a strong game defensively in running down a couple of fly balls but went 0-for-4 to snap a career-best 15-game hitting streak.
Ben Rice sat against righty Nathan Eovaldi, with Aaron Judge getting the DH start on a rainy day, Trent Grisham in center and Paul Goldschmidt at first.
“Picking spots where I can do that,” Boone said of the half-day off for Judge, who went 0-for-3 with a walk.
To kick off Fleet Week, Clarke Schmidt’s father, U.S. Marine Corps Col. Dwight Schmidt, threw the ceremonial first pitch to his son.
— Additional reporting by Joel Sherman