Saturday, 4 a.m.
Ryan Yarbrough is hoping for a tweak.
A ding. An owie. A hitch in his giddy-up.
Goodness knows, the Tampa Bay Rays need it.
In the stop-me-if-you've-heard-this-before category, the Rays find themselves hoping, once again, that a pitcher doesn't have too much damage. How many victory celebrations has that stopped this season?
Well, here's another one. The Rays beat Miami 2-0, their second shutout of the year, but await the news of just how badly injured a pitcher might be.
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This time, it was Yarbrough, the crafty lefty of the Rays, who came up hobbling Friday night. He was near the end of his night, after pitching his finest performance of the season, when he felt a pain in the left side of his groin.
Yarbrough has had the injury before, and he said he left immediately so he wouldn't further injure it. But, like everyone else, Yarbrough will have to wait to see how much time -- if any -- he will miss from the Rays.
“Obviously, I feel pretty good right now," Yarbrough said after the game. "I've had some issues with it in the past. I kind of felt it on those last couple of pitches. I was just trying to be smart and not make anything any worse. With where we are in the game, and where we’re at as a team, I was trying to do the smart thing."
“It’s kind of tough. I feel like it’s nothing crazy, but it depends on how you feel when you wake up. It didn’t feel as bad as how I’ve done it in the past."
The Rays have nine pitchers on their injured list.
Before he left the game, Yarbrough had given up four hits in 6 2/3 innings. Although his fastball has considerable less heat than Marlins' starter Sixto Sanchez' -- who was terrific in his no-decision -- Yarbrough didn't allow a run.
"It's not a surprise to us," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "He's had it in past seasons. He manages it really well. Given the workload and getting that deep in the game, it crept up and he kind of felt it. I’m proud of him for acknowledging it. The last thing we need to have happen is him trying to gut through something because he’s such a big part of our team.
"He didn’t come out hurt. He came out because he didn’t want to over-exert it. That’s a good sign."
The Rays scored twice on the Marlins' bullpen, getting a run in the eighth when Yandy Diaz singled in Austin Meadows and one in the ninth when Michael Perez singled in Joey Wendle.
The Rays play the Marlins again tonight at Marlins Park at 6:10 p.m. Josh Fleming will pitch for the Rays against Miami's Pablo Lopez.