Carlos Beltran’s lower right shin already was discolored by the time he was dressed for a plane ride to Denver on Sunday. Not far away, Chase Headley was removing a large ice bag from the outside of his right ankle and waiting for it to become the color of Beltran’s bruise.
Beltran fouled a ball off his leg in the fifth inning of Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Tigers with the bases loaded and two outs. He hit the next pitch for a stress-free fly ball that killed a scoring chance. Headley was hit by a Michael Fulmer pitch with two outs in the fourth.
Beltran and Headley remained in the game as the DH and third baseman, respectively, but Headley was experiencing soreness while waiting for the discoloration to appear.
“It’s definitely sore, but in a day or two, it will be fine,” said Headley, who drove in the Yankees’ run with a two-out single off Justin Wilson in the eighth. “It’s nothing I am worried about.”
Seeing Mark Teixeira get ready to board the Yankees’ charter Sunday to Denver was an indication his right knee injury is improving. Hearing Teixeira describe his condition added more positives to the situation.
“I am feeling a lot better,” said Teixeira, who is on the DL with torn cartilage in the right knee.
Early last week, Joe Girardi said the Yankees would rely on treatment and medication to see if the switch-hitting first baseman could return in three weeks.
“Hopefully Tex gets back soon and is capable of doing the damage he can always do,” Beltran said.
Teixeira was bothered by neck spasms before his knee locked up June 3 in Baltimore. In 48 games, he is batting .180 with three homers and 12 RBIs.
In a move that was made to add Ike Davis to the big league roster for Tuesday night’s game against the Rockies in Denver, the Yankees optioned right-hander Chad Green to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. Green was elevated Friday night when first baseman Chris Parmelee went on the DL with a strained right hamstring.
Green worked a perfect ninth inning Sunday against the team that dealt him to the Yankees, striking out Cameron Maybin looking with a 98-mph fastball.
Alex Rodriguez spent the introduction of the old-timers and their game on the rail of the Yankees’ dugout and took a seat on the bench when the Tigers-Yankees game started.
“I felt he needed a day,” Girardi said of the DH, who has one hit in his last 13 at-bats and was hitless in the previous eight.
Girardi moved Beltran from right field to the DH spot and inserted Aaron Hicks in right.
With two on, two outs and the Yankees trailing by three runs in the eighth, Girardi could have used Rodriguez to hit for the left-handed-hitting Didi Gregorius against former Yankees lefty Justin Wilson but stuck with Gregorius who flied to center.
Since May 3, the Yankees have had one day off (May 23) and played 40 games in 41 days. They went 23-17 during that stretch and planned on taking advantage of Monday’s off day.
“It’s a day to rest and relax and get it going again,” Beltran said.
Lefty reliever Chasen Shreve pitched one scoreless inning Sunday for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in which he struck out one batter. Shreve is on the DL with a sprained left shoulder AC joint.
By taking two of three from the Yankees, the Tigers won a regular-season series in The Bronx for the first time since April 29-May 1, 2008. They are 8-18 in their last 26 games at Yankee Stadium.
After being invited to the 2015 Old-Timers’ Day game, Jim Leyritz wasn’t in uniform Sunday. Instead, Leyritz was in the seats behind home plate. Leyritz has been invited to the 20th anniversary of the 1996 World Series championship season. That will take place Aug. 13-14 and include the unveiling of Mariano Rivera’s plaque in Monument Park.