Tanaka has inflammation in his pitching shoulder, the team said.
The right-hander Masahiro Tanaka on Saturday became the third of the Yankees’ five opening day starting pitchers to go on the disabled list.
The team described Tanaka’s injury as inflammation in his right shoulder. “I don’ t think this will be too long, ” Manager Joe Girardi said. “We’ re just figuring he needs 10 days.”
Tanaka, who was pulled from a start against the Blue Jays on Wednesday after four innings despite having allowed just two hits and holding a 3-2 lead, reported fatigue and soreness in his pitching shoulder to the team trainer on Thursday.
“He came to us and just said he felt that his arm was tired from here on down, ” Girardi said, motioning from his shoulder to his fingertips. “His arm, his fingers, his hand. And we waited a couple of days to see if he felt it came back and it just didn’ t, so we decided to put him on the D. L.”
Tanaka, 28, is struggling through the worst season of his four-year major league career; he has an 8-10 record with a 4.92 E. R. A.
The left-handed starter C. Sabathia was placed on the 10-day disabled list on Friday because of inflammation in his degenerating right knee, and the right-hander Michael Pineda, who had Tommy John surgery in July, is on the 60-day disabled list.
Girardi said that no tests had been performed on Tanaka’s shoulder, but that team doctors had determined there was no structural damage.
“From a structural standpoint he comes out fine. From a strength standpoint he comes out fine, ” said Girardi before referring to a magnetic resonance imaging test. “You can M. R. I. every pitcher and you’ re going to find inflammation somewhere. So we decided he just needs a break.”
This is the third trip to the disabled list for Tanaka in his four years with the Yankees. That does not count the final two weeks of last season when he was shut down because of a strained right forearm.
Tanaka’s latest injury is not believed to be related to the partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow that he sustained in July 2014.
“It’s some general soreness and inflammation in the shoulder area and some fatigue, ” Tanaka said. “I’ ve had a tough time getting the soreness out of the area. It was to a level that I thought I needed to mention it.”
Tanaka’s E. R. A. this season is the highest of his career by more than a run. He has allowed a team-high 28 home runs, more than all but three other starting pitchers in the majors.
But Tanaka was having his best month in August, having allowed just three earned runs in 10 innings. In his most recent start, Tanaka had allowed a leadoff home run to Jose Bautista and then a walk to Josh Donaldson, giving him a career-high five walks and prompting Girardi to remove him from the game.
Girardi said the right-handers Luis Cessa and Bryan Mitchell were the leading candidates to start Monday’s game against the Mets, which Tanaka had been scheduled to pitch.
