The New York Yankees will have to continue the regular season without starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi who needs to rest for two weeks after a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a right elbow inflammation.
Eovaldi's recent setback might make him miss the remainder of the regular season and also sideline him if the Yankees reach the playoffs.
The 25-year-old pitcher has played and started in 27 games for the Yanks this season and is 14–3 with a 4.20 earned run average (ERA).
According to ESPN, Eovaldi is expected to be the Yankees starter if they reach the divisional series.
"The most important thing right now is having him be healthy. He's no good to us not healthy," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday, according to MLB.com.
Cashman added, "We've just got to give it a timeout now and make sure that we put him in a position to be that asset again. Hopefully it will be this year."
According to the report on the league website, Cashman also said that Eovaldi had a platelet-rich plasma injection to speed up the healing but still he should not pitch for at least two weeks.
Eovaldi said the elbow first bothered him after their loss to the Tampa Bay Rays last Saturday but it is a good thing that no ligament was damaged since when he was in high school, he already went through Tommy John surgery.
Currently, the Yankees are facing the Baltimore Orioles in a three-game series and without Eovaldi, Michael Pineda and Masahiro Tanaka started for the club.
Following their series against the Orioles, the Yankees will be taking on the Toronto Blue Jays, whom they are trailing by a game and half for the top spot in the American League East.
New York's series against the Blue Jays is for four games and since Eovaldi is out, possible starters are Pineda, Luis Severino, Ivan Nova, Adam Warren, Bryan Mitchell, or the returning veteran CC Sabathia.
