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NEW YORK >> Derek Jeter is back on the disabled list.
The Yankees placed their captain on the 15-day DL on Friday. He strained his right quad in his first game back with New York last week after being out all season with a broken left ankle.
The Yankees had waited to make a decision, using the four days of the All-Star break for the shortstop to receive treatment. But with New York set to open the second half of the season against the Red Sox in Boston on Friday, the team announced the move.
The Yankees also signed infielder Brent Lillibridge from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The 39-year-old Jeter singled on his first pitch in a major league game this year as the Yankees beat Kansas City on July 11, but he left in the eighth inning when his quad tightened in his third at-bat.
At the time, Jeter said he hoped the strain was “not a big deal.”
He missed the weekend series against Minnesota but hoped to avoid the DL.
“It’s frustrating. I don’t know what else you want me to say,” Jeter said in a statement a day after the injury. “I worked hard to get to the point of rejoining the team yesterday. It’s not how you draw it up, but hopefully I’ll be back out there soon and help this team win some games.”
After just four rehabilitation games, the Yankees pushed up the star shortstop’s return one day after Brett Gardner and Travis Hafner got hurt. Jeter had been telling the team he was ready to return, and general manager Brian Cashman said reports from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre were positive.
So Jeter came back to a huge ovation and beat out an infield hit in his first at-bat. He also scored a run and had an RBI on a groundout that ended in a close play at first. He was pinch hit for in the eighth inning.
Jeter joins Mark Teixeira (wrist surgery), outfielder Curtis Granderson (broken pinkie) and catcher Francisco Cervelli (broken hand), who have been hurt and then had setbacks or second injuries.
Teixeira returned briefly before season-ending surgery. Cervelli developed a stress reaction and is shut down for now. Granderson broke his forearm in his first at-bat in spring training only to be hit again after eight games back.
Granderson has resumed taking on-field batting practice at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa, Fla., and says he is “working on repetition” with his swing. Team officials have said Granderson could be back early next month.
Infielder Jayson Nix, sidelined by a strained right hamstring, got six at-bats during a simulated game in Tampa. He’s started 40 games at shortstop and 24 games at third base this season for the Yankees.
Alex Rodriguez is playing with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, likely the final stop in his rehabilitation from left hip surgery before he returns to the Yankees as early as Monday.
Despite all the injuries, the Yankees were 51-44 at the All-Star break, six games behind first-place Boston but sitting in fourth in the tough AL East. They were three games out of the last wild card spot.
