The New York Yankees fell to the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 on Wednesday evening, but the bad news came after the game. Relief pitcher Zack Britton lasted just two outs before being pulled.
As he left, he clutched his leg in pain. Following the game, manager Aaron Boone stated that they were running tests on Britton, and they wouldn’t have an answer until Thursday morning.
Unfortunately, the news was once again bad. Britton suffered a hamstring injury, which can be difficult to return from. Luckily, the Yankees recently gained back Aroldis Chapman from injured reserve. Chapman had been dealing with COVID-19 symptoms but has finally returned and at the perfect time with Zack going down.
So far this season, Britton hosts a 2.00 ERA with nine strikeouts over nine innings pitched. He now joins a long list of injured Yankees, which limits their flexibility during games.
The Bombers are already without Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and DJ LeMahieu. Losing Britton will undoubtedly be difficult to supplement, considering he is one of the better relief arms, but this is no surprise for Yankee fans. This could edge them closer to an August 31 trade deadline deal to supplement his loss.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Yankees begin to test the market with Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar. In other news, the Yanks sent Andujar back to the alternative training site after a three-pitch strikeout in a clutch situation Wednesday evening.