BOSTON — Twenty-eight games.
That’s how long Nick Johnson lasted before going down with an injury. The fragile designated hitter left last night’s game with a sore right wrist and will return to New York to get an MRI exam today.
He is expected to be placed on the 15-day disabled list before today’s game.
“It’s not fun to have to go through,” Johnson said.
Johnson, who played just 38 games in 2008 due to an injury in the same wrist, said he had no strength in the wrist after fouling off a pitch in the first inning.
He stayed in for one more at-bat but was replaced by Marcus Thames in the fifth inning.
Johnson said the wrist had been bothering him but nothing that would keep him from playing. The 31-year-old has a history of injuries, with nine trips to the disabled list in his 10-year career.
The news was better on Robinson Cano, who took a Josh Beckett pitch to the left knee. Cano said he’ll wait until this morning to see how it feels but no tests were scheduled.
Joe Girardi thought it was doubtful Cano could play today, but the second baseman did not rule it out.
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Jorge Posada was out of the lineup for the third straight game with a strained right calf. Posada said he’s ready to play and is hopeful to be in the lineup today.
“I’m still leery about putting him in,” Girardi said.
Posada caught Phil Hughes as Hughes warmed up for the seventh inning, and Girardi said he could have pinch hit.
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Nick Swisher hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning with someone special in mind. He visited a hospital yesterday and the father of one of the sick children asked Swisher to hit a home run for his son.
“I hope he was watching,” Swisher said.
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Girardi said before the game Mariano Rivera was available to pitch, but the closer was not needed in the blowout.
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Sergio Mitre will start in Detroit in place of Andy Pettitte, but it won’t be on Pettitte’s scheduled day. Instead, Mitre will pitch Monday and Javier Vazquez will pitch Tuesday.
Girardi said it is because Vazquez is a better hitter and this would line him up to start the first interleague game against the Mets on May 21.
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Before last night’s game, the Yankees sent outfielder Greg Golson back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and called up reliever Romulo Sanchez to take Mitre’s role in the bullpen. . . . Top prospect Jesus Montero left Scranton’s game in Durham, N.C., in the third inning. It was not clear if he was injured or removed for another reason. . . . According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Beckett is the first pitcher with as many as nine runs, eight strikeouts and two hit batsmen in the same game sine Jack Coombs did it for the Philadelphia A’s on June 28, 1911. . . . Yankees starters are now 17-4 with a 3.15 ERA.