NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees placed struggling reliever Fernando Cruz on the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort Wednesday, a day after he allowed his fifth homer since the All-Star break.
Following a 9-3 win
over the Houston Astros, manager Aaron Boone said Cruz has a partial tear in his ulnar collateral ligament and was getting a second opinion to see if Tommy John surgery is needed.In his second season with the Yankees, Cruz
is 4-6 with a 3.13 ERA in 61 appearances. He allowed a tying, two-run homer to Jeremy Peña on a fastball in the sixth inning of Tuesday night’s 9-7 loss and has a 5.52 ERA in 17 appearances since the All-Star break.
“It was late last night,” Boone said Wednesday afternoon. “He just felt like something on one of his pitches maybe didn’t feel right.”
Cruz was 3-4 with a 3.56 ERA last season after being acquired from Cincinnati for catcher Jose Trevino. Cruz missed two months in 2025 with a strained left oblique that he sustained while working out with a medicine ball, along with a brief absence due to a strained right shoulder.
Cruz became the 17th Yankees player to spend time on the IL this year and the second to go on in the last four days. Starting pitcher Ryan Weathers landed on the injured list Sunday with a strained left forearm after feeling pain during the fourth inning a day earlier against Toronto.
New York signed Michael Fulmer to a major league contract and recalled Elmer Rodríguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to start Wednesday night’s game. The Yankees also optioned reliever Bradley Hanner to Triple-A and transferred reliever Kervin Castro to the 60-day injured list.
Fulmer made his Yankees debut in the eighth inning after New York scored four runs in the seventh to take a 7-3 lead. He struck out Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez before getting Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve on groundouts.
“My goal is to get 1-2-3s, as many as I can,” Fulmer said. “I was thankful for the opportunity, happy to be on this team, in this atmosphere, and guys have welcomed me with open arms."
“He was great,” Boone said. “I said, ‘Welcome to the Yankees. I threw you in there against Yordan, Paredes and Altuve right out of the gate' and he was like, `I wouldn't have it any other way.' Look, I think he can help us. I really do. So it was good to get him in."
Before joining the Yankees, Fulmer made 37 appearances in Triple-A with the Giants and Angels affiliates. The 33-year-old right-hander made three scoreless big league relief appearances for the Angels before getting designated for assignment on Sunday.
Fulmer said the Yankees were the first team to call his agent. He signed a minor league deal Tuesday after clearing waivers and was headed to meet Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Worcester before replacing Cruz.
“As soon as I cleared, the Yankees were the first team to call, which I value quite a bit, a team that’s showing interest like that,” Fulmer said.
The 33-year-old won AL Rookie of the Year in 2016 with Detroit after being acquired from the Mets for Yoenis Cespedes at the 2015 trade deadline. He underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2019, and right elbow surgery cost him the 2024 season.
He is 37-50 with a 3.92 ERA in 268 appearances with the Tigers, Twins, Cubs, Red Sox and Angels.
Rodríguez allowed three runs and three hits in six-plus innings while showing increased velocity. He is 8-3 with a 2.59 ERA in 19 starts at Triple-A this season.
“That’s the electric arm that we know is in there,” Boone said. “I thought he threw the heck out of the ball.”
Castro appeared in five games before going on the injured list with right elbow neuritis and is meeting with a doctor to discuss a possible surgery.
Hanner allowed three runs in three appearances.
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