While Mark Teixeira will miss his second straight game with a right knee contusion, Alex Rodriguez is back in the lineup this afternoon against the Blue Jays. He’ll play third base and bat third against left-hander Ricky Romero.
Rodriguez missed the previous six games due to a sprained left thumb. He received a cortisone shot earlier this week and felt good during batting practice yesterday, but told Ian Begley of ESPN New York that he will likely have to play with pain in the thumb “for the rest of the season.” With that in mind, he plans to use extra padding for his thumb to help compensate for the pain associated with swinging a bat.
Rodriguez, 36, is batting .289/.361/.478 with 14 home runs, 53 RBI and an .839 OPS over 363 plate appearances this season.
