KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Royals placed second baseman Michael Massey on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left ankle and recalled utility man Tyler Tolbert from Triple-A Omaha before starting a three-game series against the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.

Massey had served as the designated hitter on Saturday against the Chicago White Sox but did not finish the game, and he was out of the lineup for the series finale. He is hitting just .202 with two homers and 14 RBIs in 56 games this season.

“The same ankle injury that he’s been dealing with since the last homestand. It’s just not getting any better, or it’s not improving enough to go out there and play at a high level,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He got an MRI to show that things weren’t healing as well as we would like. So, we needed to make a move to get him some rest.”

In other news, the Royals expect to have reliever Lucas Erceg back before they wrap up their series against New York. He threw a clean inning against Omaha on Sunday night as he works his way back from a lower back strain.

Erceg has appeared in 24 games with a 1.96 ERA for Kansas City this season.