NEW YORK -- Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner was "a little alarmed" by the pain in his right knee.

He's fine, though.

"Nothing too serious," Gardner said. "Hopefully I'll be back in the next day or two."

Manager Aaron Boone held Gardner, his usual leadoff hitter, out of the lineup in Sunday's 3-1 loss to the Rays at Yankee Stadium.

Gardner got an MRI on the knee Sunday morning, which went well, he said.

"It's not really something I've had an issue with in the past," he said. "A little alarmed by it not really feeling like it should. Got an MRI this morning. Everything looked pretty good on that. Had some inflammation in a couple of spots that I'll try to get treatment for and drive out of there and hopefully get out onto the field in the next day or two."

Did Gardner hurt his knee on a play? Bang it on a coffee table?

"No," he said, "it wasn't necessarily any one injury or any one thing. Just kind of an over-time thing, I guess."

Gardner had been in the midst of a mini slump after a hot May. He has just three hits in his 20 at-bats over his last six games (.150 batting average).

In May, Gardner hit .313 with three homers and 11 RBI and a .917 OPS. Overall, he's hitting .258 with five bombs, 21 RBI and a .734 OPS in 59 games. Giancarlo Stanton started in left field Sunday. Aaron Hicks slid into Gardner's leadoff slot.

Recently, Gardner, who is in the final guaranteed year of his contract, said he would like to play another "two or three" years

"So far, this year's gone well for me," Gardner said. "I've stayed healthy and that's just the name of the game. As long as I can stay healthy and feel like I can still compete and help the team, I want to continue to play. I don't really put a whole lot of thought into it. Just try and keep focusing on the now and keep preparing for the future. I don't really put a whole lot of thought into it, but I'd be lying if I hadn't thought about it."

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.