Mark Teixeira likely out 2 days

— -- NEW YORK -- Mark Teixeira, who missed three games this week because of inflammation in his surgically repaired right wrist, had a cortisone shot after coming out of the New York Yankees' 3-1 win Saturday against the Minnesota Twins, and is expected to be out for at least two more days.

Teixeira returned to the Yankees lineup Friday night, but said after Saturday's game that the soreness that caused him to miss an entire series in St. Louis never really went away. Manager Joe Girardi pulled Teixeira from the game Saturday after two at-bats, and said later that the Yankees will wait to reassess Teixeira's situation until Tuesday.

"I'm basically back to square one with the soreness," Teixeira said.

Teixeira has been assured by Dr. Keith Raskin, the surgeon who operated on his wrist last summer, that he has no structural damage there and that the soreness is the result of inflammation and fluid. The hope is that the cortisone shot will take care of that.

"If the shot doesn't work, then I'm worried," Teixeira said.

The other concern is that a player shouldn't have more than two cortisone shots in a year, and Teixeira didn't want to use up the first of those so soon. But when the soreness didn't go away after what amounted to four days of rest, he felt he had no choice.

Teixeira said that even though he made it through Friday's game, he could tell the wrist still wasn't right. He walked three times and struck out once, taking only two swings total (both foul balls) in his four plate appearances.

Even though he felt more soreness Saturday morning, Teixeira decided to play, hoping that the wrist would get better as the day continued. Instead, he didn't look good in his two plate appearances (a strikeout and a groundout), and Girardi suggested he come out of the game.

"I wasn't taking good swings, and it was pretty painful," Teixeira said.

Girardi said he remains hopeful that the soreness only will be a short-term concern for Teixeira and the Yankees.

"You're hoping as the season goes on, it's less and less," he said.

Teixeira leads the Yankees with nine home runs, despite playing in only 37 of the first 54 games. The Yankees don't have another natural first baseman on the roster, but Girardi resisted the idea that this latest Teixeira issue should force the team to add anyone from outside.

"If it's going to be short term, you use the options you have," Girardi said. "And our feeling is it's going to be short term."