Drury injury may shake up infield

TAMPA — Injuries late in March can dull the whole spring training for a team.

And while it appears the Yankees dodged a serious injury to third baseman Brandon Drury’s left elbow, they don’t know how long he will be sidelined after being drilled by an 87-mph pitch Friday at GMS Field by Red Sox lefty Brian Johnson.

“X-rays were negative, but there is definitely some swelling in there,” manager Aaron Boone said after a 5-0 loss to the Red Sox. “We have to see how he responds. He got a pretty good shot there.”

Drury remained in the game long enough to go from first to third on Neil Walker’s double, but then was removed to ice the area.

Depending on the severity of the injury to the starting third baseman, the Yankees have coverage. If it’s a short deal, they can use Ronald Torreyes, Tyler Wade and Walker at third. If it turns into a disabled list situation, the Yankees could recall Miguel Andujar, who was the leading candidate to start at third until Drury was acquired from the Diamondbacks.

“We will evaluate where we are each day to see if this is a one-day thing or a couple-of-day thing,” Boone said. “Hopefully with it being a contusion, that kind of thing where it can stiffen up on you and affect you for a few days, we will just have to see how it is each day and kind of make decisions accordingly.”

➤ He can always be recalled, but Luis Cessa likely was eliminated from the competition to be the 13th pitcher on Boone’s Opening Day roster.

Cessa, whose biggest value is as rotation depth, was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/WilkesBarre on Saturday.

That leaves right-handers Domingo German and Jonathan Holder as the favorites to land the final spot.

In four spring starts, Cessa was 2-0 with a chubby 6.75 ERA and gave up 12 hits in 9 ¹ /3 innings.