Ronald Torreyes, who went 0-for-4 in the Yankees’ 6-1 loss to the Rays on Wednesday, made his eighth start at second this season and first since being recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday. After spending all of 2016 and 2017 with the Yankees, Torres was sent to SWB in late May. He missed almost a month dealing with an illness to his wife and said he is thankful she is OK.
“The most I want to say about that is thank God everything is fine,” said Torreyes, who described his season as interesting. “When I went down, the mentality was to keep up what I’d been doing up here in the big leagues. Keep working hard to give myself the best opportunity to get back.”
In order to make room on the 25-man roster for Luis Cessa to start Wednesday night, the Yankees designated right-handed reliever George Kontos for assignment. Kontos had been promoted from Triple-A on Monday and didn’t allow a run in 1 ²/₃ innings that night against the Mets. Following the game, in which he allowed five runs on seven hits in 3 ¹/₃ innings, Cessa was optioned to SWB. The Yankees will need to make a corresponding move before Thursday’s game.
According to Aaron Boone, Gary Sanchez did his hitting indoors and ran outside prior to Wednesday’s game. It’s possible the catcher could participate in some minor league rehab games next week, but first he has to run 100 percent and hit outside.
CC Sabathia played catch and said he likely will throw a bullpen session on Friday to test the inflamed right knee that landed him on the DL Monday.
The Yankees are 9-16 in their past 25 games against the AL East after starting the season 18-9 versus the division.