Holliday lands on DL with viral infection

CHICAGO — Injuries often lead to excuses, but the reality of certain situations is they are legitimate reasons clubs fall apart when several key players get hurt.

And while every team in baseball deals with injuries what the Yankees experienced between Sunday and Wednesday morning borders on crippling.

On Wednesday before the Yankees’ 12-3 win over the White Sox, they put designated hitter Matt Holliday on the 10day disabled list retroactive to Sunday and sent him to New York with what they believe is a viral infection. The move followed second baseman Starlin Castro going on the DL with a Grade 1 strained right hamstring on Tuesday. On Sunday, outfielder Aaron Hicks landed on the shelf with a right oblique muscle problem.

Hicks was the No. 2 hitter in the Yankees’ batting order, Holliday their No. 4 and Castro No. 5 and the team leader in hits (92). That’s a lot of bats being deleted from a lineup that started Austin Romine at first, Ronald Torreyes at second, Tyler Wade in left field and Miguel Andujar in his first major league game at DH Wednesday night against White Sox lefty Carlos Rodon.

On Wednesday night, Girardi batted Aaron Judge second, Didi Gregorius fourth and Chase Headley fifth. It was the first time Gregorius hit cleanup and the second time Judge hit second.

As for Holliday, the decision to put him on the DL was an easy one.

“We have not seen much improvement and the fatigue factor and not eating a lot. Even if he did start to feel better it would take three or four days to start to get his strength back,’’ Girardi said.

The move is backdated to Sunday since he last played Saturday.

“I guess he is going to have more tests run. He probably has lost a little weight,” Girardi said. “They have an idea of what it isn’t. They ruled out [mononucleosis] which is good because that was a concern.’’