Rays' Jason Isringhausen Leaves Game With Right Arm Injury

Rays relief pitcher Jason Isringhausen was forced to leave tonight's game with an apparent right arm injury. Isringhausen unleashed a wild pitch and  immediately waved Joe Maddon and the training staff out on the field. Izzy  walked off the mound with his right arm dangling. It's way too early to speculate on an injury, but for a 36 year-old with a history of arm injuries it did not look promising. Unlike Troy Percival, who fought to stay in games in which he was injured, Isringhausen knew something was wrong right away. Lance Cormier was brought in to take his place.

Izzy was making his ninth appearance with the Rays and came in with a record of 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA/4.58 FIP. Obviously, his ERA is a bit misleading, but his FIP is exactly what most expected. After the debacle in Cleveland, he had put together a string of 4.1 scoreless innings over his last four apperances. He had three K's and one walk over that streak. Velocity wise, he was around 92 mph on most nights and was throwing his cutter around 88 mph. Again it's too early to know how severe the injury, but when the announcers say " Jason Isringhausen's arm is just dangling there" it's not a good sign.

Nobody wants to benefit from someone's injury, but if Izzy is indeed hurt seriously then he's obviously going to be replaced on the roster. One option would be recalling Dale Thayer, who had a 5.06 ERA/3.65 FIP in three games for the Rays. Another option would be Winston Abreu, who is flat out dominating the International League. In 23 games, Abreu has a 1.41 ERA/1.48 FIP. He has 49 strikeouts and just 10 walks and 32 innings. One thing to note: Thayer is on the 40 man roster, Abreu is not. And just for fun, this would open a spot in the bullpen for an outsider...say like Pedro Martinez?