Hernia may sideline DJ for rest of season

Hours before one of the most important games of the season, DJ LeMahieu tried to will himself into the lineup. The infielder, who has been trying to pay through a sports hernia, was so limited the coaching staff shut him down. The Yankees decided to put him on the injured list, meaning his season is over unless the Bombers advance deep in the playoffs

“We just felt like in the end, he’s just too compromised right now,” Aaron Boone said. ‘’ He was willing to do whatever if we would have wanted him to go out there. But

I just feel like, in the end, he’s too compromised to be able to play at a level close to what we would expect from DJ and in the end, I just don’t think that’s fair to him. So we made the difficult decision today to IL him.

“So we’ll see how the next week unfolds and if we get to an ALCS situation, we’ll see if he’s potentially in play at that point,” Boone said. “But we just won’t know.”

LeMahieu is potentially facing offseason surgery to repair the hernia. Boone said he wasn’t sure when the injury happened, but LeMahieu said last week it has been bothering him for a few weeks and recently became more severe.

VOIT DONE FOR YEAR

Luke Voit was transferred to the 60-day injured list before Sunday’s game. The hulking first baseman initially went on the 10-day injured list on Thursday with right knee inflammation, which has now been deemed serious enough for a longer stint on the shelf.

The move certifies that Voit will not play again for the rest of the year, and shifting him to the 60-day injured list creates more opportunities to possibly bring up players they might need in the playoffs.

TAILLON COMES THROUGH

Boone laid out his reasoning for pitching Jameson Taillon on Sunday rather than rolling the dice with Gerrit Cole.

“The choices were Jamo on normal rest or bringing Gerrit back on short rest, which kind of compromises you moving forward,” Boone said. “Jamo over the last five days has proven to be sound. Where he’s at physically, he’s in a good spot to hopefully give us a few good innings.”

Taillon was sound again on Sunday. He did his job in keeping the Rays off the scoreboard, avoiding their barrels for 3.1 innings and allowing just two singles. After Brandon Lowe found a hole in the top of the third, moving Kevin Kiermaier (who walked) to third base, Taillon got Randy Arozarena fishing. He ended that inning by getting Wander Franco to line out, and after getting the first out of the fourth, handed the ball to Wandy Peralta.