Stiff neck forces Teixeira to bench

Mark Teixeira sat out Wednesday’s win with a stiff neck that he’s been dealing with since the Yankees played in Baltimore last weekend.

“His neck’s been bothering him,” manager Joe Girardi said after the Yankees beat the Marlins, 21, in The Bronx. “So I gave him the whole day.”

Girardi insisted the injury was “nothing serious” and the first baseman may return to the lineup Thursday.

“My hope is yes,” said Girardi, who also pointed to the short turnaround after the Yankees played in Miami Tuesday night. “We thought this was the best day. … He felt a day off would really help.”

Girardi stuck to that even when Garrett Jones had to face a lefty in the seventh and stay at first base in a tight game.

Teixeira said he received treatment throughout the day and was optimistic the day off “did the trick.”

“I woke up with it one day,” said Teixeira, who wasn’t sure how it occurred. “You never know. It’s a dive, weird swing, a weird throw. Just woke up with it and it was locked up.”

After a disastrous outing in Miami on Tuesday, Nathan Eovaldi insisted he didn’t have to change much going into his next outing.

“It’s just one of those results you don’t want,” Eovaldi said. “My fastballs missed and unfortunately a lot of soft hits landed and it kind of snowballed.”

That’s putting it mildly, but Girardi agreed with the righthander that had been wildly inconsistent even before he surrendered eight runs and recorded just two outs against his old team.

“He had had a pretty decent string of starts,” Girardi said. “I know he had a real clunker [ Tuesday]… But I don’t make too much of it. It happens.”