Yankees' pitching woes continue as CC Sabathia heads to IL
New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia is headed to the 10-day injured list with an inflamed right knee only hours after getting knocked around Fenway Park in a 9-5 loss.
It’s just another frustrating development for New York, which hasn’t been able to contain any offenses lately — and is seeing its starters take the brunt of the damage. With a 7.09 ERA since June 29, the Yankees’ rotation has been the second-worst in the majors ahead of only the Detroit Tigers (7.30 ERA).
More recently, the Yankees have been outscored 73-47 while dropping five of their last seven games, and are on the verge of suffering a four-game sweep by the Boston Red Sox. That’s not exactly an ideal development at the trade deadline for a team already looking to buy in a surprisingly weak pitching market.
Throughout that stretch no Yankees starter has lasted longer than 4 1/3 innings, and they’ve given up a total over 48 earned runs over their last 26 innings pitched — with Masahiro Tanaka’s 3 1/3 IP, 12 ER outing against Boston serving as the low point.
In Sabathia’s case, the 39-year-old lasted just four innings in each of his previous two starts and gave up a combined 15 hits and 11 runs including six homers.
New York is bringing up utility man Tyler Wade from Triple-A to fill a roster spot in Sabathia’s absence.
While the Yankees are still eight games ahead of Tampa Bay for control of the American League East, there’s still another four-game set with the Red Sox to play next week and a nine-game West Coast road trip looming at the end of August.
There isn’t a better time for general manager Brian Cashman to make a splash on the trade market as he looks to bolster his roster for a playoff run. Then again, with the July 31 trade deadline only days away, there’s isn’t much time to spare anyways.
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Blake Schuster is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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