Yankees’ Jonathan Loaisiga’s return this season in doubt

TAMPA — As they await an official diagnosis, the Yankees are holding back from publicly acknowledging what Jonathan Loáisiga’s latest injury means for him.

But with it looking like the reliever “probably has a flexor strain,” manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday, Loáisiga may be hard-pressed to pitch for the Yankees again this season.

“We’re getting more opinions on that,” Boone said at Steinbrenner Field before the Yankees beat the Rays 6-4 in 10 innings. “So we’ll see what else we have.”

Loáisiga has dealt with myriad injuries during his Yankees career, most recently UCL surgery with an internal brace last April that sidelined him until this May.

A flexor strain can often be a precursor to a UCL injury, though there is no indication yet that Loáisiga is dealing with that.

Boone was waiting on the additional opinions before commenting further.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself before I know the different doctors are gathering opinions now and everything,” he said. “We’ll see.”

A night after Giancarlo Stanton crushed a pair of home runs while playing five innings in right field, he was back on the bench Wednesday, with the Yankees sticking to their initial plan of only playing the 35-year-old in the field one game in this series.

But the veteran slugger did belt the game-winning two-run homer in Wednesdays extra-inning win.

Boone claimed he did not have a plan for how many of the four games against the Red Sox Stanton would play in right field, though there is no indication that Aaron Judge will be ready to play the field by this weekend, which would continue to tie up the DH spot.

“[Stanton] is doing well,” Boone said. “But I want to listen to what the last several days have been and understanding obviously we’re starting an everyday [stretch], late-night home into Boston series. No consideration [of starting him in right field].”

That meant having one of the Yankees’ hottest bats out of the lineup against right-hander Drew Rasmussen.

Stanton entered Wednesday batting .347 with a 1.189 OPS and 13 home runs over his last 30 games.

“He’s in as good a place in the batter’s box as I’ve ever seen him,” Boone said. “I think it’s a testament to how good he’s gotten at his craft and really having a really good understanding of who he is as a hitter. We’re seeing the results nightly.”

The Yankees should be just days away from getting bullpen help in the form of Fernando Cruz (oblique strain), who made a third rehab appearance Tuesday night.

Boone said the earliest he could be in play for the Yankees is Friday, though the Yankees were still debating whether they wanted him to make a fourth rehab appearance before being activated.

In the meantime, the Yankees recalled Allan Winans from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday to fill the bullpen spot vacated by Brent Headrick, who landed on the IL on Tuesday with a forearm contusion.

Ryan Yarbrough (oblique strain) made his second rehab start Wednesday at Triple-A, building up to 50 pitches across 3 ¹/₃ innings.