Chad Green leaves Yankees game with forearm tightness

During the Yankees’ tough 9-6 loss against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, they may have lost more than just a game. Right-handed bullpen arm Chad Green had to leave his outing with a trainer in the middle of an at-bat in the sixth inning, which is obviously not a good sign. He had given up a go-ahead RBI single to Rougned Odor in relief of a shaky Miguel Castro, and with a 1-2 count on Austin Hays, catcher Kyle Higashioka called to the dugout.

It was later revealed that Green is being evaluated for right forearm discomfort, a less-than-ideal development considering that he was starting to improve and find some consistency on the mound in recent outings.

The Yankees will surely have Green undergo imaging tests to investigate the extent of the injury. At this point in baseball history, one doesn’t have to be an expert to know the potential connection between forearm tightness and eventual elbow surgery. Hopefully, it’s not that serious and doesn’t result in an extended absence for the veteran right-handed fireballer.

Green is currently sporting a 3.00 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 15 innings this year, with a 1.20 WHIP, In his last seven games, he has a shiny 1.17 ERA, a 0.65 WHIP and a 2/11 BB/K ratio in 7.2 innings, with one save: that’s obviously a marked improvement considering he was struggling to find his best fastball in the first few weeks of the season.

The Yankees should have an update on Green’s status within the next 24 hours. If it’s an IL situation, expect one of the April relievers — JP Sears (who hasn’t pitched in Triple-A Scranton since May 15th) or Ron Marinaccio (who pitched there yesterday) — to come up to take his roster spot. The Yankees aren’t likely to return to a standard four-man bench until around when this long stretch of consecutive games ends on May 29th.