Yankees 'Obviously' Concerned About Chase Whitley's Elbow
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBSNewYork/AP) — The injury replacement is now injured himself.
New York Yankees pitcher Chase Whitley left Thursday night's 6-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in the second inning because of a sore right elbow.
"There's obviously a concern about this," manager Joe Girardi said. "It's in that area you don't want to talk about."
Whitley has been filling a rotation spot that opened when Masahiro Tanaka was sidelined. The right-hander will undergo an MRI and further examination Friday.
"It has been there for a while, but adrenaline would take over during the game and I was fine," Whitley said. "But tonight it wouldn't take over and I felt it pretty much the whole time."
Girardi said left-hander Chris Capuano would step in for Whitley the next time through the rotation. Capuano is coming back from a quadriceps injury and pitched six innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night.
"It's extremely disappointing because this kid's done everything that we've asked," Girardi said of Whitley.
Rene Rivera homered and drove in four runs, and Erasmo Ramirez held the Yankees to one hit over five shutout innings. After losing the series opener 11-5, the Rays rebounded to win the final three games.
Alex Rodriguez homered in the ninth off Matt Andriese, who went four innings and completed the five-hitter for his second save.
A-Rod got his 1,000th RBI with the Yankees on his 663rd career homer.
Whitley (1-2) left with two outs and was replaced by Esmil Rogers, who gave up a three-run homer on his first pitch to the light-hitting Rivera that put Tampa Bay up 4-0.
"After the first inning he said he was fine. He's been trying to tough it out and we had no inkling that he had an issue," Girardi said.
The Yankees have lost three straight for the first time since April 9-11.
"They always play us tough, always pitch well against us, but we're still in first place in the division," outfielder Brett Gardner said. "We've got to keep our heads up. The last couple days have been tough, but we're still in first place."
Ramirez (1-1) didn't allow a hit after Jacoby Ellsbury opened the first with a single. The right-hander struck out four and walked two.
Rivera, who entered hitting .126 with a homer and five RBIs, made it 5-0 on an RBI single off Rogers in the fourth.
James Loney opened the scoring with a first-inning RBI single off Whitley, charged with three runs, two hits and two walks.
The announced crowd was 11,977. The four-game set drew just 44,937.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Yankees: Girardi said INF Brendan Ryan (calf) left an extended spring training game early due to heat exhaustion. ... Tanaka (right wrist and forearm) will have his second bullpen session Friday.
Rays: RHP Alex Cobb had elbow ligament-replacement surgery. ... LHP Matt Moore (elbow surgery) will have his first simulated game Monday.
MORE A-ROD
Rodriguez has 1,990 RBIs, two behind Babe Ruth for fourth place on the career list since RBIs became an official stat in 1920. ... Four of A-Rod's nine homers this season have come off Rays pitching. He has 51 homers in 212 games against Tampa Bay. ... Rodriguez's homer snapped a stretch of 26 consecutive innings without an extra-base hit for the Yankees.
UP NEXT
Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda (5-0) will face Kansas City RHP Chris Young (2-0) on Friday night. Pineda struck out 16 Sunday against Baltimore, matching the second-highest total in team history.
Rays: RHP Jake Odorizzi (3-2) and Minnesota RHP Phil Hughes (2-4) are Friday night's scheduled starters.
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