Having already placed CC Sabathia on the DL Wednesday, the Yankees suffered an even bigger blow this afternoon: Andy Pettitte will miss at least six weeks due to a fractured left ankle suffered when he was hit by a comebacker in the 5-4 win over the Indians.
Pettitte was removed from Wednesday’s game in the fifth inning after taking a Casey Kotchman liner off his leg. He made several warm-up throws afterwards and even threw a pitch to Lou Marson, but he limped around immediately afterwards and was replaced by Cody Eppley.
Kotchman’s shot went as a single to lead off the fifth. Marson followed that with another single and came around to score off the Yankees’ second reliever of the inning, resulting in the lone earned run charged to Pettitte.
Pettitte also allowed an unearned run following an Alex Rodriguez error in the third inning.
Pettitte had seven strikeouts in four-plus innings before departing today. Maybe the Yankees’ best starter in the month and a half since he returned to the majors, he’ll head to the DL sporting a 3.22 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in nine starts.
The Yankees already intended to have Freddy Garcia replace Sabathia in the rotation through the All-Star break. Now they might need Adam Warren to step in as well. Warren is 5-5 with a 3.86 ERA in Triple-A, but he’s gotten stronger as the year has gone on; in June, he has a 2.03 ERA in five starts.
