NEW YORK — The Yankees‘ bullpen, which has been hit by a barrage of injuries as of late, suffered yet another setback Sunday afternoon, when Ron Marinaccio walked off the field in the seventh inning of their 3-1 loss to the Orioles with a shin injury that has bothered him all season.
“The shin thing’s kind of just been a lingering issue I’ve been dealing with all year,” Marinaccio said. “So it was just a little bit more fired up. I don’t know if it was not bouncing back from last outing, I just didn’t bounce back as well, but it was just a little hotter today.”
Marinaccio is scheduled to have an MRI, with manager Aaron Boone saying the team will wait until the results Monday to make a decision on the right-hander’s availability for the rest of the season. Marinaccio had an MRI on the injury earlier this season, but testing came back negative.
“It’s just that time of the year where some wear and tear but you know, shouldn’t be any issues,” said Marinaccio, who described the ailment as soreness on the bone and not a shooting pain. He added that if his MRI comes back clean he plans to join the team in Texas for their final four games of the regular season.
Marinaccio entered Sunday’s game in relief of an ineffective Aroldis Chapman, after the former closer issued three consecutive walks, including one with the bases loaded, giving the Orioles a 2-1 lead. Marinaccio retired the next two batters he faced, but not before an Austin Hays sac fly gave Baltimore a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Third baseman Josh Donaldson was the first player who seemed to notice Marinaccio laboring and stepped toward the mound, as Boone walked over, accompanied by the Yankees’ athletic training staff.
The rookie right-hander, a native of nearby Tom’s River, New Jersey, has been an integral part of the Yankees’ relief core this season. Including one inning pitched Sunday, Marinaccio has allowed 10 earned runs over 44 innings for a 2.05 ERA, with 56 strikeouts.
The Yankees were already thin in the pen, with lefty Wandy Peralta (back) and closer Clay Holmes (shoulder) not available until the start of the division series on Oct. 11.
Veteran left-handed reliever Zack Britton was placed on the 60-day IL just over a week after attempting to come back from Tommy John surgery. And the Yankees had already lost high-leverage reliever Michael King in July with an elbow fracture, as well as Chad Green, who missed most of the year having undergone Tommy John surgery in late May.
Sidewinder Scott Effross was activated just over a week ago after having also dealt with shoulder issues. And Miguel Castro (shoulder) and Albert Abreu (elbow) have yet to make their way back from injuries, though they are expected to be activated off the IL as the Yankees close out the season against the Rangers.
ESPN’s Joon Lee contributed to this report.
