WATCH: Tampa Bay Rays Pitcher Jeffrey Springs Discusses His Elbow Injury vs. Boston Red Sox

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs was removed in the top of the fourth inning of Thursday's game against the Boston Red Sox. He was diagnosed afterwards with ulnar neuritis. More testing will be done on Friday to determine his length of absence. Springs spoke after the game about he was feeling in his elbow.

The Tampa Bay Rays won their 13th game in a row to start the season on Thursday afternoon, beating the Red Sox by a score of 9-3.

The win ties the mark for the best start to a regular season in MLB history, most recently accomplished by the 1987 Brewers. 

But it wasn't all good news for the Rays as starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs was removed from the game in the top of the fourth inning with an apparent arm injury.

The team afterwards called it ulnar neuritis, and Springs will be re-examined on Friday to determine the length of absence.

Springs also spoke after the game and his comments can be heard in full below. Here's a portion of what he said:

"The pitch prior, felt a little bit of something in the elbow-forearm area. It was kind of hard to pinpoint, obviously they came out, I tried to stretch it out and see how it felt and then in the warmup, just a little bit of a zinger in the forearm. I thought it was best probably not to continue at that point... we'll see, hopefully it's nothing more than a nerve just kind of flared up."

.@RaysBaseball lefty Jeffrey Springs addresses the media to give an update about his injury status and how he is feeling after leaving Thursday's game early. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/JyL4eJGwi2

— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) April 13, 2023

Springs has been excellent this season for Tampa Bay. He's 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA in 16 innings. He had allowed one run through three innings on Thursday before leaving.

For his career, he's 21-10 in 138 career games, posting a 3.40 ERA. He made his major league debut in 2018 with the Texas Rangers and spent part of 2020 with the Boston Red Sox before going to Tampa for the last three years.

Should he have to go on the injured list, he'll join injured Rays starters Tyler Glasnow and Zach Eflin there. Eflin was placed on the injured list just this week. 

The Rays open up a series on Friday with the Toronto Blue Jays. First pitch is 7:07 p.m. ET from Toronto.

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