Teixeira bothered by sore left wrist

Not another one. Well, let’s hope not.

The Yankees have overcome a slew of injuries this year and now have to contend with another. Mark Teixeira, who was having a strong July, was forced out of Monday night’s game against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium and probably won’t play Tuesday night, either.

The problem is a strained left wrist. X-rays were negative, but Teixeira will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Tuesday. He said after the Yankees’ 5-4 loss that he considered his level of concern to be low. His manager, Joe Girardi, felt differently, saying his level of concern was “big.”

And why not? The Yankees can ill afford another major injury to a core player. They are already without third baseman Alex Rodriguez and have played all but two months of the season without left fielder Brett Gardner. Right fielder Nick Swisher is still relegated to designated hitter duty only while nursing a strained left hip flexor. The pitching staff has taken a hit with the losses of Mariano Rivera, Joba Chamberlain and Andy Pettitte.

“This club has responded positively to adversity,” Girardi said. “We’ve got the guys still capable of getting the job done.”

Teixeira considers himself in that group, although he hardly looked that way Monday night as he struck out in each of his three at-bats. He hurt his wrist Sunday night swinging through a pitch while batting right-handed against Red Sox lefthander Felix Doubront. Tex batted left-handed in his three at-bats against Orioles righthander Miguel Gonzalez and felt pain each time.

The last straw came in the seventh when he landed on the wrist while trying to stop J.J. Hardy’s line single that drove in the second run of the inning to give Baltimore a 5-2 lead. The Yankees cut the deficit to 5-4 on back-to-back home runs by Eric Chavez and Ichiro Suzuki in the bottom half but could not get over the top.

The loss was the Yanks’ eighth in the past 11 games and another one-run setback, which is getting to be a nasty habit. Their lead in the American League East has been reduced by four games during this stretch and is down to 6 ½ games over Baltimore.

Since 4 p.m. Tuesday is the trading deadline, the Yankees will have the Teixeira MRI done early so they know whether they need to be in the market for a first baseman. General manager Brian Cashman indicated before the game that the Yankees would likely not be busy, but that could be different if Tex is hurt more than even he thinks he is. Chavez moved from third to first after Tex came out of the game. Chavez is already sharing third base with Jayson Nix to spell A-Rod while he is on the disabled list.

Chavez drove in two runs with his ninth home run and a two-out, RBI single that scored Raul Ibanez, who later homered (No. 14). Suzuki’s home run was his first for the Yankees and the 100th of his major-league career. He continues to play right field while Swisher is the DH. Swish led off the ninth inning with a double off Orioles closer Jim Johnson, but the Yankees failed to get the run home.

Teixeira tried to remain upbeat and expressed hope he would be sidelined a couple of days at most. He understands the team cannot afford to lose another big bat. He is hitting .298 with five doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 27 RBI in 84 at-bats in July.

“That’s why I played today,” he said.