Zack Britton had not pitched in nearly a week heading into Wednesday, after manager Aaron Boone said the left-handed reliever experienced soreness that led the Yankees to stay away from him Sunday.
He is still not at his best, but he did pitch Wednesday, giving up a solo homer to Carlos Santana in the top of the eighth inning in a 6-5 win over the Royals. Britton also allowed a double to Jorge Soler.
It was his second shaky outing since returning June 12 after elbow surgery during spring training and a bout with COVID-19 during the offseason. Britton also loaded the bases against the Blue Jays in a 24-pitch appearance in Buffalo last week.
“The surgery wasn’t that long ago and I had no spring training, so it’s kind of an uphill battle,’’ said Britton, who had thrown three scoreless innings until Wednesday. “It doesn’t mean I can’t have success. You just have to grind through it.”
Britton added he’s still building up strength and stamina and said he hopes to be back to normal by the time the All-Star break is over next month.
“It’s part of the process,’’ he said.
He would have been able to pitch Tuesday, but the Yankees were committed to using Jonathan Loaisiga in the eighth inning after getting him up in the seventh. Loaisiga gave up four earned runs in two-thirds of an inning in a 6-5 Yankees loss.
“Britton is in play and will be the eighth-inning guy going forward,’’ Boone said.
The Yankees are still struggling in center field after losing Aaron Hicks to season-ending wrist surgery.
Aaron Judge, who started there Wednesday night, went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. He is in 9-for-44 slump, with just one extra-base hit and one RBI, in his past 10 games. In that stretch. Judge has struck out 22 times with three walks.
There’s no obvious choice at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with Estevan Florial still unable to produce consistently.
Gary Sanchez’s hot streak continued with his game-tying homer in the ninth inning. He’s on a 23-for-69 tear with 11 runs, six doubles, seven homers and 15 RBIs in 22 games — and has six home runs in his last 12 games.
“He’s locked in right now,’’ Voit said.
Michael King has made five starts and has allowed eight runs in first innings after giving up two more Wednesday.
“I need to figure out something in that first inning to get rolling,’’ King said. “It’s not fun to pitch from behind.”
Like Jordan Montgomery earlier in the year, King said he would talk to some veteran members of the rotation to adjust his preparation.