MINNEAPOLIS — The Yankees thought that the cortisone shot Anthony Volpe received in his left shoulder at the All-Star break paid immediate dividends in his performance, so they were hopeful that would be the case after a second injection last week.
In the limited sample size of one game: So far, so good.
Now comes the hard part: Sustaining that success and trying to keep himself in the lineup in the process.
In his first start in a week, Volpe went 2-for-4 with a double, walk and one RBI while scoring a pair of runs in the Yankees’ 10-9 win over the Twins on Tuesday night at Target Field.
“It felt great,” said Volpe, who also made a nice play on a ground ball up the middle in the first inning. “It was tough watching, but it was a big win. All these games are big. It felt good to get out there.”
José Caballero had started six straight games at shortstop in between Volpe starts.
For four of those games, Volpe was unavailable or limited as he recovered from the cortisone shot, while Caballero simply started over him for the other two in a position battle that manager Aaron Boone has described as “day to day.”
It remains to be seen whether Tuesday’s performance will buy Volpe another start on Wednesday, though the Yankees would love for him to get back on track these final two weeks of the regular season because they believe their best team has him starting at shortstop and Caballero being a weapon off the bench.
“Good to see him get some immediate results with a double the other way, a walk, base hit,” Boone said. “Really good play up the middle right at the start of the game. Good to see him jump right back in and contribute.”
Boone had described his decision to start Volpe on Tuesday as wanting to get him back in the mix while also being mindful of Caballero not being a guy that plays every day.
Before the past week, Caballero had not started on six straight days since May of 2024.
Volpe said his shoulder “felt a lot better” on Tuesday.
“It feels like when we do all the treatments and all the stuff that actually works,” he said. “Before that, we were working on stuff and it was either the same or obviously worse. After you do hours of treatment and rehab and stuff like that, that’s where it’s kind of frustrating. But now it feels like in a good spot where you can build day to day and get better.”
It is unclear just how much the ailing left shoulder — which stemmed from a partially torn labrum that was discovered in May — affected Volpe’s poor play, but he said he was feeling good enough to play through it before aggravating it on Sept. 7.
“Just where we were at in the season, there was going to be no good time to feel better,” Volpe said. “So just doing it sooner than later was what we ended up going with. It’s going to be nice to feel good for the rest of the year.”
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