As expected, Clarke Schmidt landed on the injured list Friday.
How long he stays on it is the question that only an MRI will begin to answer, as Schmidt headed for tests on his tight right forearm/elbow after leaving Thursday’s start early in a concerning development.
The Yankees were still not ready to divulge the results of the MRI after Friday’s 6-5 loss to the Mets at Citi Field, but they at least know they will be without Schmidt into the All-Star break.
Instead of using Monday’s off day to skip Schmidt’s turn in the rotation into the break, Aaron Boone indicated the Yankees likely will call up a fifth starter next week.
With Luis Gil (lat strain) likely still at least a month away from returning from his own IL stint and Ryan Yarbrough (oblique strain) still yet to resume throwing since landing on the IL on June 22, the Yankees’ options are slim.
They could go with retreads Allan Winans or Carlos Carrasco or get aggressive and call up prospect Cam Schlittler, though he was only just promoted to Triple-A last month and is not yet on the 40-man roster.
“He’s been really good,” Boone said of the 24-year-old right-hander who owns a 3.80 ERA in five starts at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. “He’s exciting. He got some really good opportunities in spring training where we got to see him a lot, even making a start for us late in spring. He’s really impressed. He’s come fast. He’s done a really good job.
“Certainly put himself in the mix with a great start at Double-A, really good start at Triple-A when he got moved up, had a rough one his last time. But he’s an exciting pitcher.”
As for Schmidt, the right-hander had been dealing with forearm/elbow issues since his June 4 start, he said Thursday, which was making his recovery between starts slower. But he was able to manage it and was pitching well, which is why the Yankees did not have him undergo any tests before Friday.
“It just didn’t rise to a level of — I mean, we’d be testing guys every week when pitchers deal with things,” Boone said. “So it didn’t rise to a level, the performance was good, he was getting to that point of where he could go, stuff’s been really good. He just had a hard time recovering. … That’s part of being a pitcher in the league. You’re going to have those days, those weeks when it’s a little bit of a struggle. It doesn’t always rise to jumping in the MRI.”
In his second start off the injured list Friday, Marcus Stroman gave the Yankees a chance to win the game, completing five innings of three-run ball and leaving with a 5-3 lead.
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He scattered seven hits — the costliest a two-run shot to Juan Soto — and one walk but struck out four, all on his splitter.
“[Soto is] one of the best for a reason,” Stroman said. “He’s extremely locked in right now. He’s kind of all over everything. So he’s just an incredibly hard [at-bat]. He’s one of the best to ever do it. You have to play a game and he was ahead of me today.”
The Yankees called up relievers Scott Effross and Jayvien Sandridge on Friday — they had two spots to fill after optioning Clayton Beeter and Schmidt’s IL placement — as fresh arms for an overworked bullpen.
Effross threw a scoreless eighth inning with the Yankees trailing by a run.
RHP Geoff Hartlieb, who was designated for assignment Wednesday, elected free agency.