Brewers place OF Yelich on DL with oblique strain
Christian Yelich took some swings in the batting cage but his right oblique was still sore.
So the Milwaukee Brewers placed him on the 10-day disabled list Sunday, four days after one of their prized offseason acquisitions got hurt during a 6-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Yelich went on the DL retroactive to Thursday.
“The fact I don’t remember doing it on a specific swing is probably good news,” Yelich said before the Brewers played the Chicago Cubs. “Discomfort kind of grew, and as a precaution, to make sure it wasn’t worse, we kind of toned it back a little bit. It’s really frustrating, you know? That’s the biggest thing.”
Right-hander Taylor Wiliams was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs to take Yelich’s roster spot.
Manager Craig Counsell said Yelich reported soreness after hitting over the weekend.
“So we did an MRI, the MRI is clean,” Counsell said. “There’s certainly a possibility it’s (only) 10 days.”
Yelich, acquired from Miami, was hitting .385 with one homer and five RBIs. He and Lorenzo Cain, who returned to Brewers as a free agent after seven seasons in Kansas City, came to Milwaukee on back-to-back days in January.
It has been a tough week with injuries for the Brewers, who placed All-Star closer Corey Knebel on the disabled list on Friday with a strained right hamstring.
Yankees: Greg Bird spent all spring training trying to convince himself and others that he was fine.
The Yankees’ first baseman admitted on Sunday he put up a facade regarding the status of his right ankle — where he had a bone spur surgically removed two weeks ago — throughout spring training because he thought the pain would go away, but it did not.
“If I started playing more, maybe I’d get used to it, maybe it would turn the corner,” Bird said. “But the more I was on it the worse it got and that’s when it became a problem.”
Bird expects to have the stitches removed on Monday and is targeting a return to baseball in some capacity by May.
The oft-injured first baseman missed the end of the 2016 season with shoulder surgery and was absent a large chunk of last season when he had to have a small bone in his foot removed last July.
Indians: Right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall is expected to be sidelined for four-to six weeks after straining his right calf, an injury similar to the one that caused him to miss nearly two months last season.
Outfielder Tyler Naquin was recalled from Triple-A Columbus to replace Chisenhall, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list before Sunday’s game against Kansas City. Chisenhall was injured making a running catch in the first inning Saturday and was removed for a pinch hitter in the second.
Reds: Third baseman Eugenio Suarez broke his right thumb after getting hit by a pitch during Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Suarez, who entered leading the Reds in RBIs, had a pitch from Jameson Taillon hit his right hand leading off the fourth inning. There was no immediate word on how long Suarez will be out.
Saturday’s Games Sunday’s Game
Panthers at Bruins: Late
NHL notes
Rangers: Coach Alain Vigneault was fired hours after the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010. General manager Jeff Gorton announced the move Saturday night, a full day before the end of the NHL regular season but long after New York’s playoff hopes were gone. The Rangers made the playoffs in four of Vigneault’s five seasons, including a 2014 trip to the Stanley Cup Final. They went 226-147-37 in the regular season under Vigneault.
Avalanche: Nathan MacKinnon scored his first goal in 10 games and Jonathan Bernier stopped 32 shots as Colorado earned the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 5-2 win over St. Louis on Saturday night. The Avalanche, in the postseason for the first time since 2013-14, will face top-seeded Nashville in the opening round a season after recording a league-low 48 points.