BOSTON -- Rays manager Kevin Cash doesn’t have a definitive time frame, but he expects to be without infielder Joey Wendle again for an extended period of time.

“I’ve heard six to eight weeks,” Cash said Friday. “It’s going to be a while. And that’s a very soft six to eight weeks, other than just a doctor quickly looking at it. But we’re still two days into it.

“It stinks.”

Wendle fractured his right wrist on Wednesday when he was hit by a Jake Diekman pitch in the sixth inning against the Royals. He had just returned to action from the injured list on Sunday after being sidelined by a left hamstring strain.

Brandon Lowe was slated to start at second base in Wendle’s place on Friday against Boston.

Choi returns to lineup

Ji-Man Choi was back in the starting lineup Friday, batting third in the designated hitter role. He had battled a left calf injury and was activated from the restricted list on Wednesday. The decision to start Choi was impacted when the Red Sox shifted lefty David Price's start to Saturday and called up right-hander Josh Smith from Triple-A Pawtucket to start on Friday.

“The rotation was changed up a little bit,” Cash said. “He probably wouldn’t have played today, but when Boston decided to bump Price, they bring a righty, so it makes the most sense to play him.”

New faces in the clubhouse

Infielder Christian Arroyo was recalled from Triple-A Durham and Cash anticipates the 23-year-old will see time this weekend against a pair of Red Sox lefties.

“He’ll play,” Cash said. “He’s going to play the next two days with Price and Sale projected to pitch. It’s a pretty good fit for him probably at third base and allowing everybody else to kind of move around.”

The Rays also called up right-hander Austin Pruitt.

Yarbrough a ‘really difficult decision’

Making the move to send lefty Brandon Yarbrough to Triple-A was not an easy one for Cash. Yarbrough was optioned to the minors after giving up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings out of the bullpen on Wednesday against the Royals.

“First and foremost, really difficult decision,” Cash said. “Yarbrough did so many good things for us last year as a young pitcher, and he’ll be back up here to help us. In all fairness to him, it probably wasn’t the best or smoothest way to start the season. We had kind of a quirkiness to the schedule and then unfortunately he got sick, so he never got stretched out. As we’re getting him stretched out the other day against Kansas City, he kind of got beat up a little bit.”

Yarbrough has an 8.10 ERA over 16 2/3 innings in five outings this season. He was 16-6 with a 3.91 ERA in 38 appearances in 2018.

“This will be good for him to get back into the rotation in Durham,” Cash said. “And then we know that we can call on him here in the near future.”