New York Yankees News: Sabathia Starting Tonight as Michael Pineda is Scratched with Serious Injury

According to WFAN’s ever-so-popular radio host Mike Francesa, Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda was scratched from tonight’s start with stiffness in his pitching elbow.

"“I hear Pineda’s hurt,” Francesa told WFAN co-hosts Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts on Thursday afternoon’s show. “He’s not pitching tonight, and he might be badly hurt. And I hear Nova’s hurting.”"

Pineda is 9-7 this season with a 3.97 ERA. He’s struck out a total of 117 batters while walking just 15 in 118 innings pitched. For a good while Pineda looked like the second coming for the Yankees pitching staff, bolting out to a 5-0 record through the first two months of the season and a 9-5 record leading up to the All-Star game.

Since then, things have gone down hill a bit, as Pineda slumped to an 0-2 record in his first two starts after the mid-summer classic. As a matter of fact, Pineda is 2-4 though his last six starts, and one has to wonder if his surfacing elbow injury is the main reason for his struggles.

To make matters worse, Francesa also reported that Michael Pineda might be headed to the disabled list as team doctors will try and evaluate his elbow injury.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that CC Sabathia was pushed up a day to start tonight. Originally Bryan Mitchell was getting the nod, but it looks as if Joe Girardi has decided that Sabathia is a better matchup against Yovani Gallardo in the series finale.

This news is all coming just one day ahead of the July 31st trade deadline and moments after David Price was dealt to the AL East rival Toronto Blue Jays.

The Yankees might look to add Mike Leake, James Shields or Hisashi Iwakuma in lieu of Pineda’s injury. If not, they might look to stay internal and bring Adam Warren back to the starting rotation or call up the phenom Luis Severino.

Time will tell.

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UPDATE: 2:35 PM

Michael Pineda has been diagnosed with a grade 1 forearm strain, and will be out at least a month.

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