Ellsbury appears day after crashing into wall
Yankees center fielder out of starting lineup, but enters for defense
ARLINGTON -- Jacoby Ellsbury was not in the Yankees' starting lineup on Monday, one day after he jammed his right shoulder crashing into an outfield wall while making a terrific catch, but he said that it was just a scheduled day off and he entered in the bottom of the eighth as a defensive replacement for Carlos Beltran. New York won the game, 6-2.
Ellsbury hit the center-field wall at Target Field while snaring Trevor Plouffe's second-inning fly ball in the Yankees' 7-2 win over the Twins on Sunday. Ellsbury stayed in the game but said that he did notice the shoulder bothering him at the plate and finished 0-for-5.
"You feel it a little bit; you know, you're never out there perfect," Ellsbury said. "I don't want to make a bigger deal than it is. Just giving me the day."
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he preferred to stay away from Ellsbury on Monday, but would use him if necessary.
"If I have to use him, I would use him," Girardi said. "He ran into the wall pretty hard. I was going to give him or Carlos [Beltran] one of the next two days off. I decided to do Jake today. We'll go look at tomorrow. You'd like to be able to win the game without using him, but if we need him, we'll use him."
Ellsbury did not take on-field batting practice at Globe Life Park, but said that he plans to be in the Yanks' starting lineup on Tuesday.
"He was giving guys days off on this road trip, so today was my day," Ellsbury said.
Worth noting
• The Yankees outrighted infielder Gregorio Petit to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Petit, 30, hit .167 in 20 games with the Yankees this season and was designated for assignment when the Yanks selected the contract of Nick Goody on Saturday.
• Girardi indicated that he is leaning toward using either Chris Capuano or Adam Warren to start and handle three or four innings in Tuesday's game, but that will depend on how Monday's game progresses.
• The Yanks are inserting a sixth starter to offer extra rest to Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and CC Sabathia. Bryan Mitchell was the original first choice to make Tuesday's start, but he fell and hit his head while performing a rubber-band exercise in a weight room, pushing his scheduled Triple-A start back.