ANAHEIM, Calif. — The surging Yankees rotation has its first in-season injury, and Clarke Schmidt isn’t coming back anytime soon.

Schmidt will be shut down for four to six weeks with a right lat strain that landed him on the injured list Thursday, manager Aaron Boone said, dealing a blow to a rotation that has thrived even without its ace, Gerrit Cole.

Speaking after Thursday’s 8-3 win over the Angels, Schmidt said he was hoping to get back to throwing even sooner, potentially within three to four weeks.

Even still, typically for pitchers, the length of a shutdown is about equal to the time it takes to build back up, meaning Schmidt could be sidelined for around two months.

“It’s definitely devastating,” Schmidt said. “I’m probably having the most fun I’ve ever had playing this game in my career. Not only having success, but the team’s winning, the pitching staff’s doing really well, and it’s just fun being able to go out there and compete every five days with these guys.

“A big part of me is I pride myself on being available and being a guy they can rely on every five days to go out there and give them a chance to win ballgames. So a big part of me feels like I’m letting the team down because I’m not doing that part of being available every five days.”

Cody Poteet will be called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to fill Schmidt’s spot in the rotation and start on Saturday against the Giants.

In the interim, reliever Cody Morris was recalled on Thursday to provide bullpen insurance.

Schmidt had last pitched on Sunday against the Padres, after which he said he didn’t feel his best physically but grinded through it.

Then the right-hander did not recover well in the coming days and was unable to go through his throwing program, which led the Yankees to send him for an MRI exam on Wednesday and a meeting with Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Thursday.

Schmidt had posted a 2.52 ERA through his first 11 starts as he continued to develop and mature as a full-time starter.

He stayed healthy last season while piling up a career-high 159 innings, smashing his previous mark.

“Obviously, Clarke’s been one of the guys that has been pitching so well, so it stinks for him,” Boone said before the Yankees closed out the series at Angel Stadium. “But hopefully we’ll have him down, get him on the mend and hopefully get him back at some point.”

Still, Boone didn’t shy away from reality.

“It’s going to be a while,” he said.

The Yankees have been without Cole since spring training because of nerve inflammation in his right elbow, but their rotation had still been a strength with Luis Gil filling in incredibly for him and the rest of the starters stepping up their game.

Entering Thursday, the Yankees had posted the second-lowest rotation ERA in the majors at 2.69.

That included an MLB-record 16 straight games in which their starter had pitched at least five innings and given up two or fewer runs.

Now, the Yankees will have to fill another void, with Cole not expected back until at least the end of June, though he could begin a rehab assignment next week.

And the questions about how the Yankees would open a spot for Cole’s return to the rotation — and whether Gil would be forced to the bullpen — have suddenly become moot.

Including Thursday night, Schmidt, Gil, Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman had combined to start 57 of the Yankees’ first 58 games of the season — the lone exception being a spot start by Poteet in a doubleheader on April 13 in Cleveland.

Stroman is set to make it 58 of 59 on Friday before the Yankees’ stability will be disrupted.

Poteet is currently on the IL at Triple-A with a blister, but Boone said he has been throwing side sessions and will be good to go for Saturday.

The right-hander aced his spot start against the Guardians earlier this season, tossing six innings of one-run ball in a win.