BALTIMORE — Already without Brian McCann, the Yankees lost Mark Teixeira to a knee injury Friday night.
“For whatever reason, [his right knee] locked up,” Joe Girardi said of the slumping first baseman who grounded out to first in the second inning of a 6-5 loss to the Orioles and was replaced by Rob Refsnyder in the third.
Teixeira was taken for an MRI exam and the results weren’t released. Teixeira was icing his knee when the Yankees played in Oakland last month, but the difference, according to Girardi, is the hinge wasn’t locking on Teixeira then.
Refsnyder, who started taking ground balls at first base this week in Toronto, handled two chances without incident.
Because backup catcher Austin Romine is filling in for McCann, who has a hyperextended left elbow and said after the game he will be out a “couple of days,” Refsnyder and Chase Headley are the players who can play for Teixeira.
“If that’s what Joe needs, that’s what I will do,” Refsnyder said of Girardi providing regular playing time at first. He went 0-for-3, reached on an error and was thrown out trying to advance to second on the play.
The other option is for Chris Parmelee or Nick Swisher to be elevated from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Neither is on the 40-man roster.
As for McCann, he suffered the injury in the seventh inning Wednesday night in Toronto catching a ball.
McCann attempted to swing a bat Friday and said he felt it when he tried to extend.
“It’s going to be a couple of days,” McCann said. “Today feels better than [Thursday]. [Thursday] I woke up and it was extremely stiff. Hope for the best. I don’t want any setbacks and be out for a long time.”
Girardi said he tried to stay away from McCann, who has one hit in his last 16 at-bats.
Romine made his 16th start behind the plate and homered in the fifth and banged into a game-ending double play. He is hitting .364 (8-for-22) with two homers and five RBIs in his last seven games.
With Gary Sanchez hurt at Triple-A, the Yankees are using Eddy Rodriguez and Kyle Higashioka behind the plate, but that hasn’t impacted the decision not to bring another catcher to the big leagues.
“I think if you felt it was going to be four, five or six days you would,” Girardi said of getting a catcher. “But we could use [McCann] if we had to.’’
Dustin Ackley underwent shoulder surgery Friday at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Yankees physician Dr. Chris Ahmad performed the procedure that repaired the labrum and bone fragments.
Ackley is done for the season, and the injury left the Yankees without an experienced backup first baseman.
Girardi didn’t exactly say how long Luis Severino will spend at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but he didn’t sound as if it would be a one-and-done deal. Severino started for the RailRiders on Friday night against Columbus at home and allowed three runs, two hits and three walks in 3 ²/₃ innings.