Mark Teixeira’s slow road back to the field continued when he was cleared to take his first two-handed swings Tuesday, albeit underwater, which is less stressful.
Wednesday, Teixeira moved on to dry swings (without contacting a ball) as he holds out hope he will be back in the Yankees lineup by early May — and avoid surgery — after suffering a strained tendon sheath in his right wrist while preparing for the World Baseball Classic in early March.
“I swung very light [Tuesday] and it’ll just be slow-moving,” Teixeira said before the Yankees’ 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Diamondbacks last night at Yankee Stadium. “Hopefully, it just feels good every day and we’ll see where I am in a week or so on the next road trip.”
Teixeira intends to travel with the team to Toronto and then Tampa Bay. If he doesn’t suffer any setbacks, he will remain at the team’s minor league complex in Tampa to rehab.
“That’s where we’ll really start ramping up the game speed-type playing,” said Teixeira, who had been limited to one-handed swinging until Tuesday.
Though Teixeira said he is optimistic about how his recovery is going, there are considerable hurdles he still has to clear.
“I got hurt swinging left-handed, so that’s kind of what I’m worried about,” said Teixeira, who suffered the injury on a check swing. “I’m sure if I play a week of [rehab] games, there’s probably going to be a check swing in there somewhere.”
Next up would be hitting off a tee; then soft-toss would lead to batting practice in the cage. Barring any issues, Teixeira would then take batting practice outside for at least a few days before beginning to play in games.
“We said 8-10 weeks and I still want to be back in eight,” Teixeira said. “If it has to be a little bit slower because of soreness or tightness, then we can take a little bit more time.”
So far, Teixeira said he hasn’t experienced any discomfort.
* A little more than a year ago manager Joe Girardi told Francisco Cervelli he was headed for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and that’s where the catcher spent five months last season before being a September call-up.
Wednesday night, Girardi said there is a chance for Cervelli, who started for the ninth time last night against the Diamondbacks, to increase his playing time.
“[Cervelli] has caught a good portion of the games. He isn’t an everyday [catcher], but you catch three out of five and four out of five in series, that’s an every-day guy,’’ Girardi said before Cervelli caught CC Sabathia for the third time this season. “I have given him more than I originally did. If he continues to shine he will get more [playing time].’’
Cervelli entered Wednesday night’s action against Arizona lefty Wade Miley hitting .360 (9-for-25) with a homer and six RBIs. With runners in scoring position he was hitting a team-leading .750 (3-for-4) with four RBIs. Wednesday night, he went 0-for-4 with a liner to center field and struck out twice.
That’s quite a start for a player who batted .246 in 99 games for SWB last year and played winter ball in Venezuela to improve defensively and offensively.
“Amazing, huh?’’ Cervelli said of the change from a year ago. “God always has a plan. Sometimes you don’t understand but now I do.’’
Players Association head Michael Weiner sat with Robinson Cano at Cano’s locker before the game. Though Cano said the conversation centered on Weiner’s health — he is battling an inoperable brain tumor — Weiner said he has no problem with Cano recently leaving agent Scott Boras for a company that works closely with music mogul Jay-Z, who is in the process of becoming a certified agent.
“Players want to leave agents and he moved from Scott Boras to CAA and that’s fine,’’ Weiner said. “Jay-Z is not certified and we will work on that.’’
Weiner said he is convinced Cano didn’t make the big move without putting thought into the process.
“He has thought through the decision,’’ Weiner said.
* Derek Jeter worked out for the third straight day at the Yankees’ Tampa minor league complex and went through a workload similar to Monday and Tuesday.
He took five rounds of batting practice and ground balls (9) on the grass and at normal shortstop (10). He also played catch and long tossed.
The Yankees don’t have a definitive date for Jeter to start playing in minor league games and because he isn’t running, it’s difficult to project a date.
* Despite two awful outings Phil Hughes isn’t likely pitching for his rotation spot tonight against the Diamondbacks at Yankee Stadium.
Nevertheless, it would be beneficial to the right-hander and the Yankees that he improves significantly from the first two starts that resulted in a 0-2 ledger and an obese 10.29 ERA.
“Try and forget about the last one. Try to be more aggressive. I was tentative for some reason the last time out,’’ Hughes said of the five-run, nine-hit spanking the Orioles administered to him Saturday. “I have to bring almost a relief mentality back. It’s not difficult to do, but sometimes you just get away from it. Sometimes if you lose confidence, you don’t have the aggressive mentality. I feel like my confidence is fine. I just have to do better job of not trying to be so perfect.”
Considering Hughes had six days of rest between the first and second starts and will be working on regular four days’ rest tonight he figures it’s a plus.
“It’s nice to not have to wait seven days, especially after a bad one like that,’’ said Hughes, who was hammered by the Tigers for four runs [three earned] and eight hits in four innings on April 6.
Regardless of the horrific numbers, Hughes said the upper back problem that didn’t allow him to pitch in a major league exhibition game in spring training isn’t an issue.
“That’s all behind me,” Hughes said. “Now I just have to get in a groove and stay in it as long as I can.’’
* Andy Pettitte threw a short bullpen session and said he will be ready to start Friday night against the Blue Jays in Toronto. Pettitte, who has been battling back spasms, hasn’t pitched since April 9 when he allowed a run and five hits in seven innings against the Indians.
“I feel like I’m all set for Friday,’’ Pettitte said.
* The Yankees’ 172 interleague wins are tops in baseball history. They have won 14 of the last 17 interleague games going back to last season.
dan.martin@nypost.com