Elmer Rodríguez is headed back to the Yankees rotation, at least for a little while.
The Yankees placed left-hander Max Fried on the 15-day injured list Saturday with a left elbow bone bruise and recalled Rodríguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Rodríguez will now face the Mets Sunday, with Ryan Weathers pushed to Monday against the Blue Jays in The Bronx, followed by Will Warren on Tuesday.
With Gerrit Cole making another minor league rehab start Saturday night for SWB — and Aaron Boone indicating Friday that the ace would likely make at least another start before returning from Tommy John surgery — Rodríguez will fill in for Fried until Cole is back.
Rodríguez previously replaced Luis Gil in the rotation prior to Carlos Rodón’s return from his own IL stint.
It’s unclear how much time Fried will miss, since the bone bruise diagnosis was an “initial finding” from a Thursday MRI and CT scan.
The imaging was also sent to surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, which was expected to be due diligence rather than a concern about a more serious injury, since Fried said his ulnar collateral ligament was not injured.
As for Cole, Saturday marked the 30th day of his rehab assignment, which is normally the maximum allowed for pitchers coming off the IL, but that can be extended after Tommy John surgery.
Rodríguez allowed five runs in 8 ⅔ innings in his two previous starts with the Yankees.
