Yankees’ Nevin begins his way back from bout with COVID, infection

Phil Nevin’s voice cracked and his face flushed. Forced from the New York Yankees third-base coaching box by the coronavirus and infections, he also had to miss his son’s major league debut.

“Not to be able to see him right after the game that gets you a little bit,.” Nevin said Friday.

Nevin, who also suffers from asthma, said he lost 22 pounds and was diagnosed with a bacterial infection in his kidneys and a staph infection.

He still has an IV line in an arm that has to be removed before he can be back on the field, but he was back in the dugout and handled the lineup card exchange for Friday night’s series opener against Boston.

Rays

Tampa Bay placed first baseman Ji-Man Choi on the 10-day injured list because of a left groin strain. Tampa Bay made the move before the opener of a three-game series in Texas. It was retroactive to Thursday, when Choi was held out of the lineup against the Yankees.

Red Sox

Boston acquired outfielder Freddy Valdez from the Mets, and left-handers Luis De La Rosa and Grant Gambrell from Kansas City to complete the three-team trade that sent outfielder Andrew Benintendi to the Royals.

Elsewhere

The Chicago Cubs and White Sox have been approved for 100% capacity in the stands, with the Cubs announcing they’ll start selling tickets to the entire stadium Saturday. The White Sox are expected to follow suit soon. Both teams banded together in lobbying the city of Chicago to allow for 100% capacity. Once the state of Illinois announced a move to a final Phase 5 of reopening on June 11, the city finally announced the same a few days later. ... Two-thirds of baseball’s 30 teams have been able to relax coronavirus protocols after four additional clubs qualified and raised the total to 20 franchises reaching 85% vaccinations for players and other on-field personnel. The commissioner’s office and the players’ association said that two additional teams had reached the 85% level of having received final doses and will be able to relax protocols within the next two weeks.