ATLANTA -- According to Brian Cashman, the Yankees won’t know the extent of Brett Gardner’s right elbow injury until the left fielder is examined Thursday by Dr. Tim Kremchek.
Gardner was seen by Dr. James Andrews yesterday and will visit Kremchek in two days at the request of his agent, Joe Bick.
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Though Andrews may have talked to the Yankees about Gardner’s problem, the club is waiting for the second opinion before going public.
“Other than that I don’t have anything,’’ manager Joe Girardi said of Gardner, who has not played in a big league game since April 17 and has suffered two setbacks in minor league rehab games.
Even if there is nothing structurally wrong with Gardner’s elbow, it’s likely he won’t return until following the All-Star break (July 9-12) at the earliest. The fact that he has suffered two setbacks raises concern that the injury could be season-ending.
***David Robertson is slated to throw an inning tomorrow night for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. It will be the right-handed reliever’s second outing in three days. If Robertson doesn’t feel any flareup of his left rib cage injury, Girardi said Robertson will “probably join us after that.’’
Robertson, who has not faced big league hitters since May 11, worked an inning Sunday. He threw 11 pitches and reported no problems.
When Robertson returns, he will be the eighth-inning reliever and Rafael Soriano, who was unavailable last night because of a blister on his right index finger, will continue to close.
Robertson took the first two save chances after Mariano Rivera was hurt in early May and went 1-for-2. Soriano took over for Robertson and had a string of nine straight saves stopped Sunday by the Mets.
***Considering the awful news the Yankees have received about injured pitchers such as Rivera and Michael Pineda this season, they were due to get positive words at some point.
It appears that the positive has replaced the negative with Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda.
The veteran pitchers said yesterday they expect to make their next starts after suffering injuries this weekend that forced them out of Subway Series games against the Mets at Yankee Stadium.
Kuroda is slated to start tomorrow night against the Braves at Turner Field, and Pettitte’s next scheduled start is Saturday against the Nationals in Washington.
“As far as I am concerned, I will make my next start,’’ said Kuroda, who left Friday night’s game against the Mets after taking a line drive off his left foot.
Kuroda threw a bullpen session Sunday and played catch yesterday. He has yet to test the foot by fielding ground balls or covering first base.
Pettitte, who caught a softer-than-it-looked chopper with his throwing hand Sunday, displayed a small bruise in the palm but explained everything is fine with the hand.
“I will throw a bullpen [tomorrow], and I feel great,’’ Pettitte said.
Pettitte never was worried something worse than a bruise was in play.
“I knew it wasn’t broken, I knew I was going to make my next start,’’ said Pettitte, who credited a compression wrap applied Sunday for vastly reducing the swelling.
***Robinson Cano’s two hits stretched his hitting streak to nine straight games. He is batting .382 (13-for-34) during the stretch.
***While pitchers — especially CC Sabathia, who starts tonight — look forward to hitting, Girardi isn’t a fan of watching his valuable starters try to handle a bat or run the bases.
“I hold my breath,’’ Girardi said of his pitchers turning into hitters and runners during interleague games played in NL parks, where the designated hitter is not used. “In 2008, Chien-Ming Wang broke his foot [running the bases], and in 2010, Javier Vazquez hurt his finger [bunting]. The track record hasn’t been good. We tell them, ‘Try and be smart, don’t go first to third on a bang-bang play.’ ’’
The Yankees started a string of six straight games in NL parks last night (Washington is next) and nine of their next 12 will be with no DH.
Sabathia has far and away the best average (.250) of any Yankee pitcher. He is 25-for-100 with three homers and 14 RBIs. The lefty swinger will be challenged tonight when the Braves start lefty Mike Minor.
Kuroda, a former Dodger, has the worst average at .106. In 198 at-bats, he has 68 strikeouts and 21 hits. Pettitte is also bad, batting .137 (26-for-190) with 63 Ks.
“It’s something I am not really good at,’’ Kuroda said. “If someone hits for me we will have better results.’’
Ivan Nova had a second-inning single for his first big league hit. Play was stopped and the ball tossed into the Yankees’ dugout. He was hitless in four big league at-bats coming into the game.
george.king@nypost.com
Joe Girardi, Andy Pettitte, Brett Gardner’s, the Yankees, Rafael Soriano, Mariano Rivera, Robertson, Michael Pineda
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