The Tampa Bay Rays announced Monday that right-hander Yonny Chirinos is headed to the 10-day Injured List with an inflamed right middle finger. Right-hander Austin Pruitt is coming up to take the open roster spot, at least for the time being.
The Rays are anticipating a reasonably lengthy absence — Chirinos will be shut down for at least two weeks. Kevin Cash announced that right-hander is expected to be sidelined for more than a month.
It’s unfortunate. He’s going to be out some time.
— Kevin Cash
Chirinos, who had some issue in that finger previously, said it became a more acute issue in the fourth inning of Sunday’s ballgame when he threw a slider. He was pulled after five innings.
It’s irritated. He tried to kind of work through it a little bit but we felt like after this last five-inning outing it kind of flared up on him. Took him out of the game, had some doctors and it made the most sense to shut him down.
— Kevin Cash
The Rays aren’t entirely certain how they will handle this situation over the long-term.
I’m not sure. I need some time to process it. We’ll put our heads together and do what’s best for the guys currently on the team and how we’re going to be able to pull from the minor leagues to provide pitches and innings. But we’ve got three guys that we counted on for 180-plus innings, they’re all sitting and watching games. So, not ideal. But bet on these guys to pick each other up and find a way to figure it out.
— Kevin Cash
Chirinos has been an important part of the Rays rotation which lost Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell to injury. Pruitt was promoted to take Chirinos’ place on the active roster, although he is coming off a shoulder-related IL stint at Triple-A, so it doesn’t sound like he will be a long-term solution.
Trevor Richards (who was acquired from Miami and needs to be stretched out from relief work to multi-inning duty), Jose De Leon, and Anthony Banda (who is completing his Tommy John rehab) are all in house options to take Chirinos’ place either as a starter or in a bulk-inning role.
The team did receive positive news on Glasnow and Snell. Glasnow threw from 60 feet this afternoon — his first time throwing in six weeks — and said his forearm “felt really good.” As for Snell, the left-hander told reporters that his bone-chip removal procedure went well. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner told reporters that team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Eaton removed six bone chips from his elbow (five small, one kind of large) … that he has regained a good range of motion, and feels good. He, however, won’t have any real sense of his schedule until the inflammation in his elbow subsides.
Thankfully the Rays own the second easiest schedule in remaining games in the American League, and Tampa Bay just started its softest stretch of the season. The team will play 19 consecutive games against teams that currently are below .500, with three games against the Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres, four against the Baltimore Orioles, and six against the Seattle Mariners. If the Rays can weather this storm into September, when Glasnow and Snell are expected to return, they should be in good shape heading into the last stretch of the season and into the playoffs.