You could hear the pain in Aaron Boone’s voice when he said the Yankees have made the decisions to place DJ LeMahieu on the IL.

Boone said Saturday that LeMahieu is dealing with a sports hernia and he received a cortisone injection to see how the injury would respond. The answer wasn’t the one the Yanks wanted to hear clearly.

Not only is there major implications for Game 162 on Sunday and LeMahieu is an obvious key piece of the puzzle, but placing him on the IL won’t allow him to be available for the ALDS either – if the Yanks make it there, of course.

“We’re going to IL DJ. Went through some stuff this morning with him and just felt like in the end he’s too compromised right now. He’s willing to do whatever if we wanted him to go out there, but I just feel like in the end he’s too compromised to be able to play at a level close to what we would expect of DJ. In the end, I just don’t think that’s fair to him.

“We’ll see how the next week unfolds, and if we get to an ALCS situation, we’ll see if he’s potentially in play at that point. But we just won’t know.”

With LeMahieu out, Rougned Odor will be playing third base for the Yanks. Gleyber Torres, swinging a hot bat of late, will continue to remain in LeMahieu’s leadoff spot in the lineup.

Also replacing LeMahieu on the roster is Luis Gil, who will be providing long relief if Jameson Taillon, who left his start against the Toronto Blue Jays early because he reaggravated his ankle tendon injury that he's been battling, struggles early.

Luke Voit Joins LeMahieu

Voit is also headed to the IL, but it's the 60-day and his season is done.

Voit is suffering from left knee inflammation that the Yanks don't see him healing from this year. He'll look to recover and be ready for 2022.

Brody Koerner, a right-handed reliever, was also optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

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