Yankees place RHP Loaisiga on IL with strained rotator cuff

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees placed reliever Jonathan Loaisiga on the 10-day injured list Sunday because of a strained right rotator cuff.

Manager Aaron Boone said Loaisiga experienced some pain Saturday morning after he surrendered a game-tying homer to Jorge Mateo in the seventh inning of Friday night's 4-3 victory over Baltimore.

An MRI showed the strain and Loaisiga was given a cortisone injection. Boone said Loaisiga will not throw for 10 days, and he is hoping the hard-throwing right-hander can return this season.

“Hopefully this is something that’s a little bit of a timeout and we get him back for the stretch drive,” Boone said.

New York began the day on top of the AL wild-card standings, a half-game ahead of Boston.

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The 26-year-old Loaisiga is 9-4 with a 2.25 ERA in 54 appearances this season. He also has five saves and 66 strikeouts in 68 innings, his most since pitching 68 2/3 innings in 2013 in the Dominican Summer League as a minor leaguer for the San Francisco Giants.

“Obviously that’s a tough loss for us which hopefully is only a couple of weeks but still something we’ll have to navigate,” Boone said.

Loaisiga also missed two weeks in July after testing positive for COVID-19.

To fill Loaisiga's spot, Albert Abreu was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Abreu is 2-0 with a 4.08 ERA in 20 appearances with New York this season.

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