Fernando Tatis Jr. and 2 Yankees Coaches Test Positive for Coronavirus

Boone said that Carlos Mendoza, the team’s bench coach, had been asked to cover Nevin’s duties at third base, and that Mario Garza, who works in the Yankees’ minor league system, had been brought up to the major leagues to coach first base in place of Willits.

Although Boone declined to detail all of the Yankees’ absences before the game, the bullpen coach, Mike Harkey, made a visit to the mound during the game instead of the pitching coach, Matt Blake.

Nevin’s case was the first for the Yankees during the 2020 and 2021 regular seasons; they also had none in the postseason last year. A few players, like closer Aroldis Chapman, infielder D.J. LeMahieu and relievers Luis Cessa and Zack Britton, tested positive in the off-season or during the lead-up to the 2020 regular season.

“We’ve all learned that playing through a pandemic and going back to last year, nothing kind of surprises you,” Boone said. “But still, it does catch you off guard a little bit when you do get that news.”

Gerrit Cole, the Yankees’ star pitcher and a top players’ union official, said that the team had met as a whole and heard from doctors and that everyone was OK with playing on Tuesday. Cole, who had returned to wearing a mask during his video interview with reporters on Tuesday, said the team was being tested “like crazy” — at least twice a day.

“As a whole, we’re looking to press on,” he said. “Different levels of comfortability across the club, so we’re just trying accommodate that and stick together as a group, and make sure everybody is in a good spot to perform tonight, which we felt confident as a group that we could do.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/sports/fernando-tatis-phil-nevin-coronavirus.html