Yankees’ Corey Kluber Expected to Miss 8 Weeks With Shoulder Injury

The right-hander suffered a subscapularis muscle strain. He won’t throw for four weeks.

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

A week after throwing a no-hitter, Corey Kluber is being shut down.

The right-hander departed his first start since the feat on Tuesday after just three innings and 58 pitches. On Wednesday, an MRI revealed Kluber suffered a subscapularis muscle strain. The subscap is the largest muscle in the rotator cuff.

The current plan is to bar Kluber from throwing for four weeks. He will get a second examination Wednesday that will include dye contrast, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the best-case scenario for the pitcher’s return is eight weeks.

“We wanna make sure we do everything we can in supporting Corey,” Aaron Boone said. “We’ll have to pick up the slack for him and hope that he’s able to rejoin the rotation at some point in the future.”

Aaron Boone says the results of Corey Kluber's MRI revealed a subscap strain and will not throw for at least 4 weeks pic.twitter.com/ArlS1s5eJ3

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 26, 2021

This injury serves as yet another blow to the 35-year-old Kluber, whose no-hitter against the Rangers was the latest sign that he was still capable of pitching at an elite level. But injuries have plagued him the previous two seasons, with a torn teres major muscle limiting him to just one inning in 2020. Boone said this new injury is different from the teres major tear last season.

Kluber, who has only thrown 90 frames since the beginning of the 2019 season, got off to a rocky start in 2021 after signing a one-year deal with the Yankees over the offseason, but that was expected. He needed time to build himself up after enduring extended absences the previous two seasons. It looked as if he had done that, recording a 2.11 ERA over his last six starts. He went at least 5.2 innings in five of those, the exception being Tuesday’s outing that saw him leave early.

Yankees' Voit Headed to Injured List With Right Oblique Strain

Now he will head to the injured list with yet another ramp-up period on the horizon.

“It’s tough news to get considering how well he was throwing the ball and all he’s been through to get back,” Boone added.

Kluber, who has a 3.04 ERA in 10 starts overall this year, leaves a large hole in the Yankees’ rotation, which has been historically dominant of late. Deivi García is expected to make a start in Detroit this weekend. Boone said that was the plan before the Kluber news, even with García owning a 5.17 ERA in four Triple-A starts. Michael King could also see some lengthy work, though he’s not fully stretched out as a starter.

“Next man up,” Boone said. “Obviously, those are valuable innings we’ve gotta make up for in the short-term at least. We’ll find a way to do that.”

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