The team’s official word on Cruz’s injury was a right knee sprain, likely suffered when his cleats got stuck in the grass and his knee was wrenched while making a sliding catch on a pop fly in the third inning of Monday night’s game against Texas.

According to Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger, the team’s medical staff told Cruz he had likely damaged his MCL, and he will undergo an MRI in New York on Friday.

Cruz, who is hitting .182 with five RBI in 16 games since signing with the Yankees on July 3, stayed in and finished the game, but did not play Tuesday and said he wasn’t sure how he made it through Monday.

“Inning by inning, it was getting worse,” Cruz said Tuesday. “The last inning it was getting swollen. I don’t know how I finished the game. Today, when I woke up, it was really big and I couldn’t really walk good.”

Cruz becomes the 17th different Yankee to spend time on the DL this season, and because he did not appear Tuesday, his stint is retroactive to July 23, meaning he is eligible to return on August 7.

Adams, meanwhile, will return for his second stint in the Majors this year. He hit .190 with two homers and nine RBI in 35 games with the Yankees earlier this season, and had a .289-1-4 line in 11 games for the RailRiders since being optioned to Triple-A on July 10.

Cruz’s injury and Adams’ promotion also caused reciprocal moves further down the line, as infielder Jose Pirela was promoted from Double-A Trenton to Triple-A to replace Adam and the Thunder received infielder Dan Fiorito from Class-A Advanced Tampa to replace Pirela.