HOUSTON — Trey Yesavage has been placed on the 15-day IL with left knee inflammation after he left Tuesday night’s game against the Astros during his warmup for the third inning.
Most injuries feel surprising in the moment, but this one particularly so. Yesavage was throwing his usual warmup pitches when he landed awkwardly on his lead leg and his left knee appeared to buckle. He tried another pitch, which still looked unsteady, and that brought manager John Schneider and the Blue Jays’ trainer racing out from the dugout.
After one more pitch, Yesavage shook his head and walked off with his manager.
“Trey felt a little pinch there in his left knee on his first couple of warmup pitches in the third,” Schneider said after Tuesday’s loss. “He said he was OK, but we’re not taking any chances.”
The Blue Jays received MRI results just prior to Wednesday’s game, showing inflammation in the knee, and he’ll be shut down from throwing off the mound for now.
In Yesavage’s place, Lazaro Estrada is back up with the big club after recently being optioned. He’ll slide into a bulk role in the bullpen as the Blue Jays still have five starters, back to a standard rotation for the time being. Prior to Tuesday’s game, Schneider shared plans to move to a six-man rotation with Dylan Cease, Yesavage, José Soriano, Max Scherzer, Shane Bieber and Jameson Taillon, but those plans lasted just two innings.
