Anthony Rizzos impressive Yankees return ended early

Anthony Rizzo’s return to the Yankees lineup just over two weeks removed from fracturing the fourth and fifth fingers in his right hand got off to a good start, but ended with some questions as Rizzo was replaced at first base by Oswaldo Cabrera to open the top of the ninth in Monday’s 5-2 win over Cleveland in Game 1 of the ALCS at the Stadium.Rizzo said he had no issues with his hand and Boone said he removed Rizzo because “he was just kind of physically and emotionally spent there late in the game” after not having played in over two weeks.The Yankees and Rizzo will see how the hand responds Tuesday before determining if he’s back in the lineup, but there were encouraging signs from the first baseman, who hadn’t faced live pitching since suffering the injury a day before the end of the regular season.Rizzo ripped a single to center in his first at-bat and walked during a three-run second and didn’t show any rust on defense until he was unable to come up with a Brayan Rocchio grounder with one on and one out in the top of the eighth.The ball squirted into right, and after a Steven Kwan RBI single cut into the Yankees’ lead, Luke Weaver stopped the bleeding and the Yankees held on to win.Before the game, Rizzo acknowledged he would likely be in some pain, but was confident the atmosphere would make up for it.“The 50,000 people in the stands and the adrenaline and what’s at stake is going to outweigh any pain I’ll be feeling,” Rizzo said.For the most part, it worked.“I thought he was sharp,” Boone said, “which was really good to see.”The Yankees survived the ALDS without Rizzo on the roster, beating Kansas City with a combination of Cabrera and Jon Berti, both of whom played well at first and had good at-bats.Still, the Yankees went with Rizzo despite his not having faced any live pitching in his rehab progression and only hitting off high-velocity pitching machines and the Trajekt (which mimics exact pitches of real major league pitc...