Yanks place Paxton (knee inflammation) on IL

NEW YORK -- One day after James Paxton was forced to make an early exit from his start against the Twins, the Yankees placed the left-hander on the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation.

The Yankees don't expect Paxton to miss more than three weeks, general manager Brian Cashman said on MLB Network Radio on Sunday.

Paxton received a cortisone injection during Saturday's 7-3 loss to the Twins. He is the 16th Yankee to land on the injured list this season, and the 13th player at present. The list briefly dropped to 12 on Saturday morning when infielder Miguel Andujar was activated.

"It's pretty on par to what I thought it was going to be," Paxton said. "I was hoping it wasn’t anything worse. This should be able to be fixed pretty quickly and easily with some anti-inflammatories and that injection. Moving forward, it should move smoothly."

The 30-year-old Paxton completed only three innings in New York's 6-3 victory over Minnesota and was sent for an MRI on Saturday, the results of which were concerning enough for the Yankees to shelve the hurler.

Paxton will not throw for five to seven days, according to manager Aaron Boone, who added that he expects right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga to be promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

"We’ll talk through it, but for right now, we’ll just expect him to slot in where Paxton’s spot was," Boone said.

In a corresponding move, the Yankees recalled right-hander Jake Barrett from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The 27-year-old Barrett is 0-1 with a 1.50 ERA in eight relief appearances at Triple-A, and he owns a 4.05 ERA over 103 big league appearances with the D-backs from 2016-18. Barrett made his Yankees debut on Saturday, allowing a Nelson Cruz homer in a 1 2/3-inning appearance.

This marks Paxton's sixth trip to the injured list in the last four seasons. He said that he does not believe the injury will be long term in nature.

"We’ve been managing it," Paxton said. "I don’t really know why the last game it was acting up more than in previous starts. It just kind of got to the point where I was feeling it on every pitch. Other starts, I wasn’t feeling it on every pitch; I was able to work through it."

The Sanchino
With his two-homer performance in Friday's victory over the Twins, Gary Sánchez tallied the 12th multi-homer game of his young career, coming in his 284th game. That makes Sánchez the second-fastest player in history to record 12 multi-homer games, behind Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner (282 games).

"This is what he's capable of," Boone said. "He's so dangerous up there. The power speaks for itself. To have him starting to lock in, especially at a time when we are still missing some key figures, obviously it's really important that his bat is going the way it is right now."

Sánchez entered Saturday with 10 homers in 18 games, making him the fourth-fastest Yankee to reach 10 homers in terms of games played. He follows Alex Rodriguez (10 homers in 14 games, 2007), Glenallen Hill (10 homers in 17 games, 2000) and Graig Nettles (10 homers in 17 games, 1974).

Mickey Mantle (10 homers in 19 games, 1956) is the only other Yankee to reach 10 homers in fewer than 20 games played.

Clipped wings
Greg Bird appeared in the Yankees' clubhouse prior to Saturday's game and said he has been walking on a treadmill since having the boot removed from his left foot. Bird is on the injured list with a left plantar fascia tear, and said he still feels discomfort.

"It's going in the right direction," said Bird, who added that there is no expected date for his return. "Timetables are pointless."

Bombers bits
Dellin Betances (right shoulder impingement) could resume throwing "in the next couple of days," Boone said. Betances has not pitched this season since landing on the injured list during Spring Training.

This date in Yankees history
May 4, 1981: Ron Davis struck out eight consecutive Angels to record the save in a 4-2 Yankees victory in Anaheim. Davis remains the all-time Major League leader in consecutive strikeouts in a relief appearance.