Yankees: Jameson Taillon leaves with injury in third as NYY burn bullpen

Jameson Taillon’s final pitch of Tuesday’s series opener between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees was a nasty fastball, dotted on the corner to catch Danny Jansen looking at 94.8 MPH.

Unfortunately, it was uncorked to finish just the first out of the third inning.

Taillon hit the IL with an unexpected injury in early September at the exact same time he needed a breather, leading many fans to speculate that the time off was at least partially of the phantom variety.

Clearly, that is not the case, as the team’s No. 2 suffered some sort of aggravation of his partially-torn ankle tendon in the third inning of Tuesday’s game.

Though he seemed to be gaining steam with every pitch, Taillon was unable to gut things out any further as the fearsome Jays lineup reset for the second time.

Following a strikeout, he signaled to both the team trainer and Aaron Boone, then removed himself from the equation.

Yankees starter Jameson Taillon quickly left Tuesday’s series opener in Toronto.

Originally billed as a battle between two starters returning from injury, both Taillon and Hyun-Jin Ryu were only expected to throw a limited amount of pitches apiece. Pregame, Jays manager Charlie Montoyo pinpointed his starter for four or five innings, and getting to a place where he could “earn the win” felt like a lofty goal for Taillon, too.

Unfortunately, just 2.1 innings was not the game plan, especially considering how effective he’d been after the first batter of the game (a four-pitch walk).

Swingman Michael King replaced Taillon immediately, and had as much time to warm up as he needed.

King has been “stretched out” to a certain extent, but he’s also been a short-relief weapon. You’d assume the Yankees don’t want him to go far beyond a two-or-three-inning allotment, which will lead to plenty more scrambling in the middle innings of this one.

Perhaps, after several weeks away from the team, this is an opportunity for Domingo German to return and cover the sixth and seventh innings? That feels less appealing if it’s high-leverage, but so be it.

Oh, and Jonathan Loaisiga was expected to return this series, which might’ve been the final straw for Andrew Heaney and his roster spot. All of a sudden, a Taillon return IL trip might keep Heaney through the end of the season after all.

How can you not be romantic about baseball?

Loaisiga would be a massive help for a bullpen that’s about to get burned, but even he can’t solve everything.

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