Rays place RHP Rasmussen on 60-day IL with flexor strain

NEW YORK (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen was positioned on the 60-day injured checklist Friday with a proper flexor pressure, at some point after tossing seven scoreless innings in a win over the New York Yankees.

Rasmussen is hopeful he can keep away from a 3rd Tommy John surgical procedure. He is 4-2 with a 2.62 ERA in eight begins this season, serving to the Rays roll to the very best report in baseball.

The right-hander allowed solely two hits and walked none Thursday night time in an 8-2 victory over the Yankees. But he felt some nerve discomfort in his proper forearm whereas pitching to the final batter he confronted, Gleyber Torres.

Rasmussen’s ultimate 4 pitches had been two lower fastballs within the mid-80s (mph) and two sweepers clocked at 79 mph, which nervous supervisor Kevin Cash and pitching coach Kyle Snyder after Rasmussen repeatedly threw mid-90s fastballs all night time.

“I definitely felt it,” Rasmussen mentioned. “Sneids could see it, just from the velocity of the pitches. The shapes were still right, the velocities were down a little bit. So he asked me how I was feeling. He got me out of there as soon as possible.”

An MRI revealed the flexor pressure, although Rasmussen’s ulnar collateral ligament appeared intact. Cash mentioned Rasmussen is anticipated to go to Texas Rangers head doctor Dr. Keith Meister subsequent week.

“Didn’t sleep great last night, knowing that we had an MRI coming, because those haven’t bode too well for me in the past,” Rasmussen mentioned.

Rasmussen underwent Tommy John surgical procedure at Oregon State in 2016 after which once more in 2017, shortly after he was drafted by the Rays and a bodily revealed the UCL had torn once more.

“We’re not really thinking about that right now,” Rasmussen mentioned, referring to a different Tommy John surgical procedure. “The imaging looked OK there when it comes to the UCL. But yeah, anything dealing with the forearm into the elbow is definitely, definitely scary. Prefer it when these things don’t pop up.”

Rasmussen is the fourth Rays pitcher on the injured checklist with an elbow concern. Shane Baz and Andrew Kittredge are each recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure final yr, and Jeffrey Springs had the elbow operation late final month.

Tampa Bay can be lacking Tyler Glasnow (indirect), who had a 3.10 ERA for the group from 2018-21 earlier than present process Tommy John surgical procedure.

Rasmussen retired the ultimate eight batters he confronted Thursday and threw simply 76 pitches in his fifth scoreless outing of the season.

“I think we were all confused to why he was coming out at first. We thought (he) was going to go (the distance),” teammate Shane McClanahan mentioned. “He was throwing a hell of a game.”

Trevor Kelley, who served as an opener Friday night time at Yankee Stadium, grew to become the eleventh pitcher to begin a recreation this yr for the Rays, who entered with the highest mark within the majors at 30-9.

“I’m confident that we’ve got guys that are capable of doing good things for us, but we’ve cut into our depth quite a bit,” Cash mentioned. “Going to be leaning on guys to continue to do what they’ve done. If there’s a way to tick it up a little bit more, that’d be welcome.”

The Rays chosen right-hander Chris Muller from Triple-A Durham to interchange Rasmussen on the lively roster. Tampa Bay additionally claimed right-hander Zack Littell off waivers from Boston and moved left-hander Garrett Cleavinger (proper knee) to the 60-day injured checklist.

In addition, right-hander Chase Anderson was claimed off waivers by the Colorado Rockies. Anderson tossed 5 scoreless innings and earned a save in two appearances with the Rays.