Following a 6-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Yankees optioned Ben Rice and Will Warren to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
No corresponding moves have been made.
Warren, Saturday’s starter, made five starts for New York this season and struggled mightily with his most recent being no different, going four innings and allowing four earned runs on five hits and three walks.
The 25-year-old owned a 9.55 ERA (1.85 WHIP) through 21.2 innings, and despite striking out 26 batters during that time he had a .337 opponent’s batting average.
Meanwhile, Rice had been scuffling for a while and had just three hits in his last 39 at-bats.
Aside from a magical game against the Boston Red Sox on July 6 where he hit three home runs and had seven RBI, Rice looked overmatched against major-league pitching, especially in the month of August.
In 49 games since getting called up for the injured Anthony Rizzo, the 25-year-old rookie slashed .174/.269/.356 with seven home runs and 23 RBI.
Rizzo (forearm fracture) is likely to return to the team on Sunday, manager Aaron Boone said.
