Yankees activate OF Cody Bellinger after 25-game absence with strained left hamstring

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees activated Cody Bellinger from the injured list Sunday after the outfielder missed 25 games with a strained left hamstring.

Bellinger batted fourth and started in left field for his first game since July 25 in Philadelphia. Bellinger went 1 for 4 in New York’s 4-3 win over Toronto, striking out twice with a runner on base before hitting a single off Brendon Little and scoring on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s two-run homer in the seventh inning.

“I felt all right,” Bellinger said. “I felt I was a little jumpy early on and in that fourth at-bat I was able to settle down a little bit.”

Bellinger returned after suffered a Grade 2 strain while running the bases following a double and the Yankees said he would miss four to six weeks.

“I think he was expanding a little bit early, and then he got into a 3-1 count against a tough lefty to square it up against and smokes the ball up the middle,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So that was good to see. A good way for him to kind of finish in his first game back.”

Bellinger is hitting .259 with 11 homers and 53 RBIs in 103 games this season. He batted .228 in New York’s first month after losing Aaron Judge to a stress fracture in his right rib but is hitting .362 in his last 13 games, though he is on a 32-game homerless streak — the second-longest of his career.

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After batting .272 with 29 homers and 98 RBIs last season, Bellinger re-signed with the Yankees last winter for $162.5 million over five years and was the MVP of the All-Star Game on July 14 in Philadelphia.

The Yankees went 14-11 in Bellinger’s absence and are three games behind the Rays in the AL East. New acquisition Heliot Ramos started 15 games in Bellinger’s absence and will likely see time in right field when the Yankees are facing a left-handed starter.

To make room for Bellinger, Max Schuemann was optioned back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Schuemann is hitting .194 in 42 games for the Yankees and was recalled Friday when Ryan McMahon went on the IL with a sprained left thumb.

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