Rasmussen to 60-day IL with flexor strain

NEW YORK -- The Rays placed right-handed pitcher Drew Rasmussen on the 60-day injured list with a flexor strain in his right elbow on Friday.

The news comes a day after Rasmussen continued his dominance against the Yankees, tossing seven scoreless innings in an 8-2 Tampa Bay victory at Yankee Stadium.

“That was probably as efficient and as good as he has put together in a game since he has been a Tampa Bay Ray,” pitching coach Kyle Snyder said.

In a corresponding move, the club selected right-hander Chris Muller from Triple-A Durham. He will work out of the bullpen. In 14 games for Durham, Muller had a 3.71 ERA and struck out 19 batters in 17 innings.

Rasmussen, 27, has gone 4-2 with a 2.62 ERA over eight starts this season, striking out 47 and walking 11 over 44 2/3 innings. He had a breakout 2022 season, finishing with a 2.84 ERA over 146 innings, and followed that up this year with his best marks in barrel rate (4.2%), hard-hit rate (32.2%) and average exit velocity (87.3 mph) since joining the Rays following a May 2021 trade from the Brewers.

In that start against the Yankees, Rasmussen felt “nerve sensitivity” in the forearm when he faced Gleyber Torres, his last hitter of the game. At the same time, Snyder noticed the velocity on Rasmussen’s breaking pitches went down.

After the inning ended, Snyder asked Rasmussen how he was feeling. The right-hander admitted his problem and was immediately taken out of the game.

Rasmussen said he believes he will avoid his third Tommy John surgery and will be back after the All-Star break.

“It sucks on a day when things are going pretty well to have something like this pop up,” Rasmussen said. “It is unfortunately a part of the game, and there is always a risk to taking the ball.

“We got the imaging done. We are hopeful that surgery is not required. That is definitely the game plan right now. … Anything dealing with the forearm into the elbow is definitely scary. I prefer it if those things don’t pop up.”

This is the latest in a string of elbow injuries for Rasmussen, who underwent Tommy John surgery twice prior to being drafted by the Brewers in the sixth round of the 2018 MLB Draft.

It’s also another bad break for the Rays’ pitching staff, which is already without Jeffrey Springs for the rest of the season due to Tommy John surgery and has yet to see Tyler Glasnow take the mound in the big leagues this year. Glasnow suffered a left oblique strain during Spring Training and had his most recent rehab outing cut short Wednesday due to left side tightness.

Even with those losses, the Rays’ starting rotation leads the Majors in ERA (2.78), opponents’ batting average (.212) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.04). Tampa Bay became the first team to reach 30 wins on Thursday and sits in first place in the AL East, five games ahead of the Orioles.

Rasmussen believes the Rays will be able to fill the void in his absence.

“It’s something I’ve seen since day one when I got over here,” he said. “When I was in Triple-A Durham, that was a big league staff. Right now, it is as well. We have plenty of pieces in place and plenty of organizational depth. Whoever gets the next opportunity will come up here and succeed for us.”

Manager Kevin Cash said that injuries have cut into the team’s pitching depth quite a bit.

“We are going to be leaning on guys to continue to do what they have done,” Cash said. “If there is a way to pick it up more, that would be welcomed.”

General manager Peter Bendix said the Rays will add a piece to make them as strong as possible. They need a starter to replace Rasmussen on Wednesday against the Mets, and right-handers Taj Bradley and Cooper Criswell are candidates.

Bradley, Tampa Bay’s No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline, has big league experience, winning all three of his starts this season with a respectable 3.52 ERA. He is currently throwing for Durham. Criswell, has a 2.49 ERA in six games for the Bulls.