DETROIT — The All-Star catcher Gary Sanchez became the latest injury concern for the Yankees when he left the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader with left groin tightness as his team beat Detroit, 6-4, completing a sweep.
Sanchez left in the fourth, an inning after he had been thrown out in his first stolen-base attempt this year. He has been on the injured list three times in the past two seasons because of groin strains.
The Yankees slugger Edwin Encarnacion left the first game with an oblique problem. The American League East-leading Yankees won that one, 10-4.
C. C. Sabathia pitched into the fourth inning of the second game in his return from the injured list. Sabathia, who has dealt with problems in his right knee, allowed only one hit through the first three innings but gave up a two-run double to Brandon Dixon in the fourth. He threw 56 pitches in three and a third innings before being relieved by Domingo German (18-4).
Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela each hit two-run homers for the Yankees in the second game.
Spencer Turnbull (3-15) allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings for the Tigers.
Aroldis Chapman entered with one out in the ninth, a runner third and the score at 6-3. He allowed a run-scoring infield single to John Hicks but was then able to close the game out for his 37th save in 42 chances.
Encarnacion homered in the first game and then left in the fifth inning with a strained left oblique muscle. J. A. Happ, the Yankees’ starter in the opener, is also dealing with some health problems, although Manager Aaron Boone did not sound concerned about that.
Encarnacion, the Yankees’ designated hitter, had a two-run homer in the third and walked in the fifth before Mike Ford pinch-hit for him in the seventh.
“I guess he felt it in his first at-bat,” Boone said. “Obviously, he homered in his second at-bat. My understanding is that he was fine swinging, but it bothered him when he coughed. We hope it is minor, but we want to get it checked out.”
It has been an injury-plagued season for the Yankees, as the slugger Giancarlo Stanton has played in only nine games. Encarnacion missed 30 games with a broken right wrist after he was hit by a pitch from Boston’s Josh Smith on Aug. 3.
Happ entered Thursday with a 15⅓-inning scoreless streak and pitched shutout ball until the fifth, when Dawel Lugo hit a two-run homer with two outs. Christin Stewart singled, and Boone brought in Chad Green (4-4), who allowed one run over two and a third innings against the Tigers, who had drafted him in 2013. The Yankees said Happ had tendinitis in his left biceps and would return to New York to be examined.
“It has been an issue for the last few starts — maybe the last three to five,” Happ said. “It’s something I’ve been able to pitch through, but hopefully we can find something so I can get in my work in between starts.”
Boone stressed that Happ’s pitch count, not the injury, was the reason Happ had not finished the fifth inning.
Luke Voit also homered for the Yankees in the first game.