Yankees activate Rougned Odor as lineup questions persist

ARLINGTON, Texas — The injury-riddled Yankees offense got a bit healthier Tuesday, as Rougned Odor was activated off the IL.

The move came after right-hander Albert Abreu was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following Monday’s loss to the Rangers, when Abreu tossed three shutout innings.

Odor had been out since May 4, when he suffered a sprained left knee during a play at the plate.

He now gets a chance to face his former team. The Rangers designated Odor for assignment shortly before Opening Day and then traded him to the Yankees on April 6 for a pair of minor leaguers.

The struggles at the plate that led to Odor’s downfall in Texas have continued with the Yankees, but he has delivered a number of key hits.

The return of Odor could allow the Yankees to use him at third base or move DJ LeMahieu there, with Gio Urshela going to shortstop, since Gleyber Torres remains on the COVID IL and under quarantine in Tampa as of Monday.

Only the Indians, Orioles and Tigers had scored fewer runs than the Yankees entering Tuesday. Their lineup will be without Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton at least a bit longer, with both on the IL.

And with the Yankees not ruling out a potential surgery on Hicks’ torn sheath in his left wrist and Stanton’s troublesome left quad injury, there’s no guarantee when either will be back.

That leaves the struggling Clint Frazier and Brett Garder, along with newly arrived journeyman Ryan LaMarre, to be relied upon in the outfield.

Yankees Rougned Odor
The Yankees activated Rougned Odor from the injured list on Tuesday.
N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg

Aaron Judge has been on fire of late, and Luke Voit homered for the first time on Monday since his return from left knee surgery, but the offense is still searching for runs.

“Any time you have a guy or a couple guys go down, we’ve seen the last few years, it’s on me and a few other guys to pick up the slack and to step up,” Gardner said following Monday’s loss. “Guys like me and Clint that maybe haven’t had a great month and a half to start the season, with these guys down, it’s something that we talk about. It’s time for us to step up and help the team in a big way and we expect to do that.”

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