ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Mark Teixeira may not be completely over the neck spasms that hampered him last week, but with the possibility of Dustin Ackley landing on the DL, the switch-hitting first baseman might be forced back into the lineup Monday night against the Blue Jays in Toronto.
“I am in there [Monday] now, definitely,” Teixeira said following Sunday’s 2-1 win over the Rays in which he replaced Ackley at first in the seventh after Ackley jammed his right shoulder diving back into first base in the sixth. “It’s getting a lot better, and hopefully it won’t come back.”
Teixeira, who hasn’t started the past five games, flied out in his only at-bat Sunday.
Ackley stayed behind in Florida Sunday to have an MRI exam on the shoulder.
Joe Girardi said Ackley is a “distinct possibility” for the DL.
Should that happen, a person with knowledge of the Yankees’ thinking said Nick Swisher, currently playing first and DHing at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre won’t be an option.
Chris Parmelee also is playing first base at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and like Swisher is not on the 40-man roster.
“If Ack is down, we have to be a little bit more creative,” Girardi said. “I am not afraid to run [Austin Romine] out there. We have been reluctant to move [Chase] Headley over there. We have done it a couple of times but just because he has been playing third well. You hate to move everyone around, so let’s see what we have after the MRI.”
“It’s a little sore right now,” Ackley said of the shoulder. “We will wait and see.”
Teixeira took batting practice on the field, fielded ground balls at first and ran in the outfield before Sunday’s game.
Carlos Beltran said he was available to work off the bench Sunday against the Rays after not being in the starting lineup due to tightness in the upper back.
“I am sore, but a little good,” said Beltran, who was removed from Saturday’s 9-5 loss to the Rays.
Beltran felt the problem during a fourth-inning at-bat in which he homered. He wasn’t needed Sunday.
“I am available if [Girardi] needs me in the game,” he said. “He just decided to give me a day [off].”
Beltran isn’t concerned the problem will linger.
“I saw the doctor [Saturday], and he said that it should go away,” said Beltran, who leads the Yankees in homers (11) and RBIs (31) and had three homers in the previous five games.
Headley is in his best groove of the season, but Girardi didn’t start the switch-hitting third baseman Sunday against Rays starter Jake Odorizzi, against whom he had been 2-for-16.
Instead, utility man Ronald Torreyes started at third. He went 0-for-3 but robbed Mikie Mahtook of a base hit with a diving stop toward the line in the second inning.
Headley is hitting .339 (19-for-56) in the last 18 games and had 11 hits in his last 29 at-bats (.379).
“[Odorizzi] is tough on left-handers, and [Headley is] another guy you don’t want to play six days in a row on turf,” Girardi said.