MOOSIC — It wasn’t exactly a career night.
Still, Mark Teixeira will take it.
Because the start of his injury rehabilitation stint with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Tuesday night wasn’t just a first step toward making it back to the lineup of the parent New York Yankees, it was pain-free.
“Felt pretty good,” Teixeira said. “The knee held up good. Felt good moving around at first base, made some plays, felt good moving around first base.
“So far, so good.”
Teixeira finally put a good swing on a ball on an 0 for 3 night, lofting a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth inning of the RailRiders’ 9-2 victory over Toledo before 7,366 paid fans at PNC Field.
He grounded one-hoppers to first base twice around a swinging strikeout during his first three at-bats for the RailRiders and played six innings at first base before departing for the night.
“I was out front my first few at-bats,” Teixeira said. “I haven’t seen live pitching in 2 1/2 weeks. Two-and-a-half weeks in baseball is like an eternity. Just getting out there, getting in the rhythm of a game, taking your swings, that’s what it’s all about.”
In his final at-bat, Teixeira made his best contact of the night, driving a long sacrifice fly the opposite way to left field that scored Jonathan Diaz for a 7-1 lead for the RailRiders.
“Made a little adjustment there,” Teixeira said, “hit the ball very well.”
The RailRiders hit it well all night, rapping 14 hits while scoring nine runs.
Hot-hitting outfielder Aaron Judge lined two home runs in a 4 for 5 night, drilling a two-run shot over the left field wall in the first inning and lacing a solo shot over the right field fence for a 3-0 RailRiders lead in the third inning for his first multi-homer game as a pro.
“Usually, I’m one-and-done,” grinned Judge, who now leads the RailRiders with 14 homers this season. “I just try to go up there and get a good pitch to hit and do some damage.”
He did enough to impress major league veteran Teixeira with the power display.
“I love Aaron Judge,” Teixeira said. “Physically, you don’t see guys like that. He has a lot of potential. Hopefully, he can have a nice long career in the Bronx.”
Teixeira plans to return there to resume his by this weekend.
The three-time American League All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner was placed on the Yankees disabled list June 4 with what he termed floating cartilage in his knee that locks his leg and keeps the knee from bending.
“It is what it is,” Teixeira said. “It’s floating cartilage. Maybe one day I’ll have surgery to get it out. Hopefully it doesn’t lock up. There’s not a lot of treatment you can do for torn cartilage. With what I have, you just ice it after the game. When it starting getting bad, it was locking up just walking. It’s not like certain movements make it worse.
“Right now, it feels good.”
Teixeira had plenty of opportunities to test his problem knee in his first day playing for the RailRiders.
He made a nifty stab to start a neat 3-6-1 double play in the fifth inning, then dove to the ground trying to field an errant relay throw by RailRiders shortstop Pete Kozma in the top of the sixth.
“I wasn’t holding anything back,” Teixeira said.
He finished with seven putouts at first and cleanly fielded both grounders that came his way, including a two-hopper to end the first inning.
“When you’re here, you want to get some ground balls, get some action,” Teixeira said. “I need to be able to play nine innings.”
The progression to that point will come rapidly over the next two days.
RailRiders manager Al Pedrique said Teixeira will serve as a designated hitter for nine innings during Wednesday’s 7:05 p.m. game with Toledo at PNC Field, then play nine innings at first base and in the batting order Thursday.
If all goes well, Teixeira believes he could be back in the Yankees lineup by Saturday.
“I thought he looked fine,” Pedrique said. “He had that one ground ball, made a nice double play. You could see he needs to see more pitches.”
Teixeira is sure to see plenty over the next two games at PNC Field.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Pedrique said. “A guy like him, (it’ll take) probably two, three games to get his rhythm back. I think he’s going to be fine with two more games.”
RailRiders 9, Toledo 2
Toledo`AB`R`H`BI
Machado ss`4`0`2`1
Colline lf`4`0`1`0
Jones cf`4`0`0`0
Green dh`4`0`0`0
Hicks c`3`0`0`0
Valdespin 1b`3`0`1`0
Diaz 2b`4`0`1`0
Gose rf`4`2`2`1
Bortnick 3b`4`0`0`0
Totals`34`2`7`2
RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI
Gamel cf`5`1`2`0
Judge rf`5`3`4`3
Teixeira 1b`3`0`0`1
Austin 1b`1`0`1`1
Sanchez c`5`0`1`0
Swisher dh`3`1`0`0
Cave lf`3`1`0`0`
Solano 3b`4`1`3`1
Kozma ss`4`1`1`1
Diaz 2b`4`1`2`2
Totals`37`9`14`9
Toledo`000`010`100`—`2
RailRiders`201`401`01x`—`9
2B — Machado (11), Gose (4); Gamel (12), Diaz (4), Austin (8). HR — Gose (1); Judge 2 (14)
Toledo`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Farmer, L (0-3)`4`8`7`7`2`2
Nesbitt`2`4`1`1`0`3
Hardy`1`0`0`0`0`1
Parnell`1`2`1`1`0`1
RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Cessa, W (2-1)`5.1`5`1`1`2`5
Shreve`1.2`1`1`1`0`1
Barbato`1`0`0`0`0`2
Montgomery`1`1`0`0`0`2
