Yankees’ Lou Trivino has UCL injury rehab halted after setback

MLB

By Greg Joyce

April 24, 2023 | 8:51pm

MINNEAPOLIS — Lou Trivino’s progress from a spring training UCL strain has been halted — with a doctor’s appointment on tap.

The veteran reliever, who had been rehabbing the elbow ligament injury in Tampa, was set to meet with Yankees team doctor Chris Ahmad on Wednesday in New York, after not bouncing back well from a recent live batting practice session.

“Didn’t feel anything in the lives, but the next couple days were not how he should have been feeling,” manager Aaron Boone said Monday before the Yankees faced the Twins.

The Yankees had been slowly building Trivino back up after he was initially shut down following one Grapefruit League appearance. It marked the first arm-related injured list stint of Trivino’s career.

Any kind of setback with a UCL can be worrisome, though Boone said he didn’t want to get ahead of himself before Trivino — under team control through 2024 — met with Ahmad.

“I mean, it’s not good that he had to get shut down from where he was in a good spot and feeling good,” Boone said. “So we’ll see.”

Joey Gallo was on the injured list last week when the Twins visited The Bronx, but the former Yankees slugger was back in the lineup Monday batting .235 with a 1.056 OPS and five home runs through his first 12 games of the season.

“Obviously, some well-documented struggles with us, but we never lost sight of what a good player he is and can be,” Boone said. “I don’t think it’s surprising to us necessarily that he’s having some success here.”

The Twins signed Gallo to a one-year, $11 million contact over the offseason, hoping he could put together a bounce-back season after a rough tenure in pinstripes — when he batted .159 with a .660 OPS in 140 games across parts of two seasons.

“I think it was very tough on him,” Boone said. “It absolutely wore on him. It was the real deal. But I respected how he handled it. He never ran from it, he never wanted out of the lineup. As best he could, he faced it and owned it. I know what a tough time it probably was in his life and the challenges he’s faced, but he had my respect in the way that he always continued to fight and compete.”

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Harrison Bader (strained oblique) will have his rehab assignment transferred to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, though Boone said Monday the outfielder will still need about 10 more days worth of games before he is ready to come off the IL. That could put his potential return in play during the Yankees’ series against the Rays on May 5-7.

Luis Severino (strained lat) threw two simulated innings of live batting practice Monday in Tampa and will do so again on Friday, after which he could be ready to start a rehab assignment. … Tommy Kahnle (biceps tendinitis) could throw his first bullpen session by the end of this seven-game road trip. … Jonathan Loaisiga (elbow inflammation) also continued his throwing program Monday and could throw off the mound by this weekend.

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