Tanaka to miss Wednesday's start vs. Blue Jays

NEW YORK -- With the Yankees preparing for a head-to-head battle with the Blue Jays for the division crown, a sacrifice bunt may have changed the course of their season. Masahiro Tanaka has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 right hamstring strain and will not be available to pitch on Wednesday.

Ivan Nova will make that start instead at Rogers Centre, with Adam Warren and Luis Severino taking the mound in the first two contests. Manager Joe Girardi hopes that Tanaka will miss just one turn through the rotation due to the injury, which occurred during the Yanks' 5-1 loss on Friday. An MRI revealed the strain.

"It's frustrating," Girardi said. "You get concerned whenever your pitchers have to hit, and you try to do everything you can to keep them from getting hurt. You prepare them, and something you can't prepare is that sudden burst that they have to make."

Tanaka, 26, said that he felt his hamstring grab while leaving the batter's box following a second-inning sacrifice bunt. Though he did continue to feel the tightness on the mound, he was able to throw 82 pitches over six innings and had no issues fielding his position.

"I felt strong enough to be able to keep myself on the mound and pitch effectively," Tanaka said through an interpreter. "If I felt that it was something that I could not have handled, then I would not be in that game."

Because of that, Tanaka said he agrees with the optimistic timetable of returning to the rotation after missing just one turn. He said that a hamstring injury cost him about a month five years ago in Japan, but that one was more severe.

"I'm not looking at it as something very serious," Tanaka said. "The reason I say that is because I hurt it early in the game and felt strong enough to continue."

Tanaka, who is 12-7 with a 3.38 ERA in 23 starts, said that he lobbied the Yankees to let him pitch on Wednesday despite the injury. Girardi said that Tanaka would be better served to receive treatment for the three days while the Yankees are in Toronto, and so Tanaka will not travel with the team.

"I did tell them that I wanted to pitch on Wednesday," Tanaka said. "At the same time, I understand their decision. The season is not over. We don't know when, but I'll probably be able to pitch again after the Toronto series."

The Yankees have had past issues with pitchers hitting in Interleague play. In 2008, Chien-Ming Wang injured his right foot while running the bases in a game at Houston, altering the course of his career. Both Girardi and Tanaka said that they have no issue with the idea of pitchers hitting in Interleague games.

"We tell our guys to take it easy in situations, but I've often said that one of the reasons they are successful is their competitive nature inside of them," Girardi said. "They understand the importance of runs, and it's just hard."

Nova had been removed from the rotation earlier in the week for performance-based reasons. The right-hander is 6-8 with a 5.11 ERA in 14 starts since returning from Tommy John surgery, and he had not been called upon out of the bullpen.

"I think it's all in the mind," Nova said. "It's my mindset. I've got to be ready to go -- command my pitches and execute every pitch."