It was speculated that Beltran might have re-injured the elbow during his return to right field. He had not played there in three months until returning to the field last weekend. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
NEW YORK — The last time Carlos Beltran discovered pain in his right elbow, he wound up missing nearly a month.
That was back on May 12, when he began hurting after taking some practice swings in the cage behind the Yankees’ dugout between at-bats.
On Wednesday, the Yankees found out that Beltran’s elbow pain returned. Though he was not in the posted lineup made available to the media on the clubhouse door, Beltran was going to start when manager Joe Girardi thought about the order.
Then he found out that the right elbow pain Beltran felt during swings Tuesday was still there when the designated hitter woke up Wednesday morning.
“He said it grabbed a little bit last night on one of the swings,” Girardi said. “He went through the rest of (Tuesday’s) game, but today he woke up and he felt it. Obviously that’s a little worse than it’s been at any other point during when he’s been playing and playing pretty well. I’m not really sure what it means. Hopefully it’s just a day or two.”
It was speculated that Beltran might have re-injured the elbow during his return to right field. He had not played there in three months until returning to the field last weekend.
In 16 innings there, Beltran had one putout, and none of Tampa Bay’s hits were in his direction.
Beltran is mired in a 1-for-29 slump since collecting five RBIs on Aug. 9 against the Cleveland Indians. His hitless drought is 14 at-bats.
After the Yankees’ 5-2 loss to the Houston Astros on Wednesday, Beltran elaborated on the injury.
“It was a couple swings,” he said. “One was a pitch away, I reached for it and I felt a pain. I’ve been feeling pains once in a while, but the ones I felt yesterday, it was very sharp.”
Beltran also said that he received his third cortisone shot of the year and that doctors did not recommend any tests.
