SAN DIEGO — A feel-good Yankees win on Friday night turned worrisome in the ninth inning, when Jon Berti suffered a serious-looking injury.
The third baseman roped a ground ball to the right side, took two steps out of the box and then hit the deck in pain with what manager Aaron Boone said was a left calf injury.
Boone and Yankees trainers quickly tended to Berti, who was eventually helped off and walked very gingerly as he went straight into the clubhouse.
Oswaldo Cabrera replaced him at third base for the bottom of the ninth in the Yankees’ 8-0 win over the Padres at Petco Park.
“Just grabbed on him out of the box,” Boone said. “We’ll see what we have. I’m sure we’ll get imaging and all that, but obviously the way he walked off, looked like it got him pretty good.”
Assuming Berti lands on the injured list, Boone said the Yankees would call someone up from Triple-A (Oswald Peraza could be a candidate) instead of bringing DJ LeMahieu back from his rehab assignment early.
LeMahieu is expected to play two more rehab games this weekend with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before likely joining the Yankees in Anaheim on Tuesday.
Berti missed time earlier this season with a groin strain but was hitting .273 with a .649 OPS through 17 games.
He hit a single and stole a base Friday before getting injured.
“He’s a good player,” Boone said. “Hopefully this is something that doesn’t knock him down too long because he does become a very important part of our bench moving forward.”
Even without his swing-and-miss stuff, Carlos Rodon’s bounce-back season continued Friday night.
In yet another sign of his maturation as a pitcher, Rodon found a way to stifle the Padres with six shutout innings on a night when he wasn’t racking up whiffs.
Rodon generated just four swings-and-misses, a season low, but allowed only six base runners on three singles and three walks. It came after he induced a season-high 22 whiffs his last time out against the White Sox.
“The offense was on fire again and it made it easy to go attack the zone,” Rodon said.
Most importantly, Rodon turned in a fourth straight quality start. Over his past four games, all wins, the left-hander has allowed just five runs across 24 ¹/₃ innings, lowering his ERA to 2.95 through 11 starts.
“It’s been reassuring to build some confidence,” Rodon said. “Just want to keep going. Stay on the mound and keep pitching for these guys.”
Nick Burdi landed back on the 15-day IL Friday with right hip inflammation, the same injury that forced him to miss nearly a month earlier this season.
The Yankees recalled right-hander Yoendrys Gomez from SWB to take his spot in the bullpen.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to be,” Boone said. “But similar to what he’s been dealing with and may have to continue to deal with. Just something that flared up again.”
Boone said he was unsure what Burdi’s next course of action would be after he lets the inflammation “calm down for a couple of days.”
Burdi had returned from the IL on May 10 and pitched in five games, his most recent one coming when he threw one-third of an inning in Thursday’s win over the Mariners.
Gomez, who has been starting at SWB, struck out the side in the ninth inning Friday. He was expected to be a placeholder in the bullpen until Ian Hamilton is activated off the COVID IL, likely on Sunday.
Anthony Volpe extended his career-high hitting streak to 17 games when he led off the night with a triple down the third-base line.
He eventually came in to score on Aaron Judge’s sacrifice fly for the 1-0 lead.
Gerrit Cole is scheduled to throw another live batting practice session on Saturday in Tampa.
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