Tampa Bay Rays Pitcher Shane McClanahan Officially Goes to 15-Day Injured List

McClanahan is reportedly dealing with forearm tightness, knocking him out for at least two weeks as the Rays try to make a serious playoff push.

The Tampa Bay Rays have placed pitcher Shane McClanahan on the 15-day injured list, the team announced Thursday.

McClanahan last pitched Wednesday against the New York Yankees. According to the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin, McClanahan felt tightness in his forearm while warming up for the fourth inning.

The left-hander tossed 4.0 innings with five earned runs on five hits, getting stuck with the loss in his team's 11-2 defeat. McClanahan flew back to Tampa to get looked at by a team doctor on Thursday, per Topkin.

McClanahan previously hit the injured list on July 1 due to mid-back tightness. Before he went down, the 26-year-old was 11-1 with a 2.53 ERA, 1.167 WHIP, .211 batting average against and .650 OPS against.

Upon his return, McClanahan posted one quality start against the Texas Rangers, but was otherwise off in his following three outings. McClanahan is 0-1 with a 7.77 ERA, 1.455 WHIP, .292 batting average against and .876 OPS against since the season's midpoint.

McClanahan is now 11-2 with a 3.29 ERA and 1.183 WHIP on the season. His 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings are a career low.

For the second year in a row, McClanahan made the All-Star Game, but he did not pitch in it due to his back injury.

The Rays' starting rotation had the lowest ERA in the American League at the end of July, despite the numerous injuries that have kept them down. Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs are out for the year, McClanahan has now had two stints on the injured list, Tyler Glasnow missed the first two months of the season and Zach Eflin just barely dodged a knee injury last week.

When either McClanahan, Glasnow or Eflin start, the Rays are 37-17. When anyone else starts, they are 29-28.

Tampa Bay acquired Aaron Civale in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians on Monday to help ease that issue, but the stakes will be high in August and September. The Rays are 9-17 since July 1, now 2.0 games back of the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East. 

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