Sanchez out, not yet bound for injured list

BOSTON — Gary Sanchez’s locked-up back kept him out of the lineup Saturday, but the Yankees were hoping it wouldn’t ultimately land him on the injured list.

Sanchez left Friday’s game against the Red Sox with midback spasms, so Rob Brantly was starting behind the plate to catch Jameson Taillon on Saturday. The Yankees did not make a roster move to add another catcher, though, because manager Aaron Boone hoped to have Sanchez back in play for Sunday’s series finale at Fenway Park.

“Doing a little bit better today,” Boone said before Saturday’s matchup. “He’s been getting a lot of treatment today. Get him moving around down in the weight room as well. Hopefully get him to where he’s back in play for us [Sunday]. So a little bit of improvement, but still didn’t get a real good night’s sleep. He was pretty locked up still this morning. But a lot of good treatment and I would say doing better.”

Boone said Sanchez could be available Saturday “in a backup, emergency situation,” though he was hoping not to find out exactly what it would take to use him.

Sanchez exited Friday’s game after the fifth inning when his back locked up on him. Boone said it was a new injury, something that just popped up during the game.

The Yankees couldn’t turn to Sanchez’s regular backup, Kyle Higashioka, because he was still on the COVID-19 injured list after testing positive coming out of the All-Star break. Higashioka was scheduled to meet the Yankees in Boston on Sunday to fly with them to Tampa, where he will work out on Monday to assess his status. The earliest he would be available is Tuesday’s series opener against the Rays in St. Petersburg. Fla.

That left the journeyman Brantly, who was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last week to replace Higashioka on the roster, to start for the second time in the critical series against the Red Sox. Brantly also started Thursday after Sanchez was nicked up by a few foul tips in Wednesday’s win over the Phillies.

If Sanchez ended up not being available Saturday, Boone said the Yankees would figure out their emergency catcher, naming Rougned Odor and Tyler Wade as options.

“Hopefully we don’t have to get to that situation,” Boone said.

The Yankees had catcher Kellin Deglan on their taxi squad at Fenway Park, but they would have had to make multiple moves to add him to the 26-man and 40-man rosters.