Rays' Diaz 'day-to-day' with left side injury

The Tampa Bay Rays have gotten off to an incredibly hot start to the season, trailing the AL East-leading New York Yankees by a game and a half. While this is the result of the entire team’s efforts, there are a few notable players who have been going above and beyond, one of whom is Yandy Diaz.

Going into Friday night’s action, Diaz was slashing .330/.421/.478 with four home runs and 20 RBIs. All of this is enough to give the Cuban slugger a WAR of 1.1, the highest among Tampa Bay, and sees him above stars such as Byron Buxton, Ian Happ, and Cal Raleigh.

Diaz suffers an injury scare

This offensive production would have looked to continue on Friday night, when the Rays took on the San Francisco Giants, as the Cuban smashed a home run in the bottom of the second inning, but things were about to take a turn for the worse.

Diaz would be taken out of the game later on due to tightness in his left side and would be replaced by Jonathan Aranda in his subsequent at-bat.

#Rays Cash said Diaz felt "a little oblique tightness" and is day to day: "We'll see how he comes in tomorrow. ... I'm optimistic that we caught it early enough that he'll be all right.''

While there isn’t any solid information regarding the Cuban’s injury, Rays’ manager Kevin Cash explained that the team will see how Diaz looks when he comes to the team’s facilities on Saturday, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin.

“We'll see how he comes in tomorrow,” Cash stated. “I'm optimistic that we caught it early enough that he'll be all right.''

Given that the 34-year-old is the Rays’ designated hitter, anyone on the team could be utilized to fill in his spot. As previously stated, Aranda would take the reins from Diaz on Friday night, when he would fail to produce anything in his lone at-bat.

Tampa Bay will take on San Francisco on Saturday night, with first pitch slated for 6:10 p.m. EST.

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