Now, all Joe Girardi can do is wait.
Until Masahiro Tanaka can get back on a mound and throw pain-free, the Yankees manager doesn’t know what he is going to get out of the right-hander when he does return.
With Tanaka dealing with a stiff forearm and wrist tendinitis, as well as the torn elbow ligament suffered last season, Girardi admitted he is worried.
“Is there concern? Of course there is,” Girardi said of Tanaka, who missed two months in 2014 when he opted to rehab his elbow injury instead of undergoing Tommy John surgery. “Any time you have to shut a pitcher down, there’s concern. With what happened last year, I can’t tell you if they’re related or not. … You’re gonna think about a lot of different scenarios. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed and hope it’s not much.”
For what it’s worth, Detroit’s David Price believes he knows where the injuries originated. The Tigers pitcher tweeted on Wednesday he thinks the cold temperature during Tanaka’s outing last Thursday in Detroit contributed to the injury.
“Tough news about Tanaka,” Price said. “[I] guarantee you it started at our place when he pitched in 34 degree weather…recover quickly.”
Girardi didn’t totally dismiss the idea.
“Does it have anything to do with Detroit? I can’t tell you 100 percent, ‘No,’ ” Girardi said. “He didn’t tell us that he felt something after Detroit. We didn’t know until [Tuesday]. And he went out and threw his bullpen. I know if he felt it before that, he wouldn’t have done his bullpen and we would have had it tested before.”
The manager said he is hopeful Tanaka will be shut down only for a short time.
“If it becomes lengthy, then yes, I’ll be [more] concerned,” Girardi said. “If he goes seven to 10 days and is able pick up a ball and throw the way he wants, then my concern is a lot less.”
After Michael Pineda moved up to start on Wednesday, CC Sabathia will pitch on normal rest Friday in Boston.
Sabathia said he threw his bullpen on his regular day and won’t be affected by the schedule.
Dellin Betances limped off the field after finishing the top of the eighth, but said it was just a blister on his left big toe and that he could have kept pitching.
With his perfect inning against the Rays, the right-hander has struck out at least two batters in each of his past six appearances and has held batters hitless over their last 25 at-bats. He has fanned 14 and walked one during that span.
ankees pitchers struck out 13 batters. … Jacoby Ellsbury went 3-for-6, his second straight game with three hits. … Pineda didn’t walk a batter for the third time this season.