LOS ANGELES — The Yankees will have a lot less infield depth in the World Series than they did in the playoffs, as Jon Berti is out with a hip flexor he suffered when he scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the ALCS against Cleveland.
Berti’s loss opened up a roster spot for Nestor Cortes, who was added as a 13th pitcher, but it leaves the Yankees with Oswaldo Cabrera as the lone backup infielder.
That’s especially risky with Anthony Rizzo still dealing with the effects of two fractured fingers in his right hand.
Rizzo has been solid since coming back, but it’s far from a given that he’ll be able to play every inning of the series.
Manager Aaron Boone said before Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium on Friday that Berti would have been a lock to be on the roster before the injury — and the Yankees were going to add Cortes as a 13th pitcher regardless of the circumstances — so it’s unclear where the Yankees would have gone if he hadn’t gotten hurt.
“We were hoping a few days [off] would help,’’ Boone said of the break between the ALCS and the World Series. “He had a chance to play … and be an important part of, especially, the bench mix. It’s a blow. It sucks.”
Fortunately for the Yankees, Cabrera, like Berti, can sub at several different infield spots, and the Yankees still have a pair of backup outfielders in Trent Grisham and Jasson Dominguez.
Berti, according to Boone, wasn’t available in the Game 5 clincher in Cleveland
“He hurt himself in Game 4 when he scored that one,” Boone said. “He wasn’t even going to be available to us in Game 5. We were hoping to kind of get him through.
Berti had also provided some solid at-bats and is a valued pinch runner.
He’d dealt with a number of injuries during the regular season after arriving in March in a three-team trade from the Marlins to add an infielder once DJ LeMahieu went down with a foot injury.
A strained calf cost Berti much of the regular season, but after his September return, he was just what the Yankees had hoped, even helping fill in for Rizzo at first base in the ALDS, when Rizzo was still out.
He entered Game 4 as a pinch runner after Rizzo led off the top of the ninth of a tie game with a single to left.
Anthony Volpe followed with a single and Alex Verdugo put the Yankees up for good by driving in Berti with a grounder to shortstop.
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