BALTIMORE -- Andrew Benintendi was a late scratch from the Red Sox's lineup for Sunday’s Father’s Day tilt against Baltimore with left quad soreness, manager Alex Cora said.

The hope is that Benintendi has avoided serious injury and is ready to go for Monday’s series opener in Minnesota.

Cora said there was no specific moment that resulted in the outfielder’s ailment. But once he was alerted Benintendi was dealing with soreness, Cora decided it was best to give him a day off in the series finale against the Orioles.

“He came up and felt like he was sore in his quad, so stay away from him today and hopefully he’ll be back tomorrow,” Cora said. “Just felt sore, nothing serious.”

Benintendi was originally slated to serve as Sunday’s designated hitter. Now, Eduardo Núñez takes over in that spot and Marco Hernandez enters the lineup at second base batting ninth.

The minor setback comes amid a positive month in what has been a rather trying season for Benintendi. His overall numbers have taken a downturn since an impressive 2018, but he has begun to put the pieces together in June, slashing .298/.333/.474 with five doubles and seven RBIs along with an .807 OPS in 57 at-bats across the month. In the Orioles series alone, Benintendi was 3-for-11 with two RBIs and a run scored.

Cora reacts to Encarnación trade

The Yankees reloaded their already potent offense by acquiring Edwin Encarnación in a trade from the Mariners. The move brings back to the division a slugger who slashes .271/.362/.529 with 33 home runs and 101 RBIs in 461 at-bats against the Red Sox.

“Big bat. They are going to keep getting better,” Cora said of the first-place Yankees. “Didn’t surprise me. Not going to surprise me if they keep getting better, too.

“And the Lakers got better, too,” he quipped.

Asked if a move like this by the Yankees has led to any further communication with the front office about improving via trade themselves, Cora batted back.

“We knew where we are going,” he said. “We are going to keep playing better. I think people forget that we were in second place last year around June 20-something. I know we are in third place. I know where we are at. We’ll be fine.”

The Red Sox entered Sunday in third place in the AL East with a 38-34 record, matching their season-high four games over .500 for the fourth time.