NEW YORK -- Rockies right-hander Jon Gray left Wednesday's 9-8 loss to the Yankees after just four-plus innings and 80 pitches with an injury that he and manager Walt Weiss described as "arm fatigue."
Gray said he feels no pain but his arm felt heavier than normal and that was disrupting his timing, especially when locating his fastball. This was evident when looking at the command he showcased Wednesday, as Gray threw as many balls (40) as strikes. He allowed four runs on three hits and five walks, in large part, he said, because he was relying too heavily on his secondary pitches without the ability to fall back on the heater.
Despite the discomfort, Gray said he does not expect to miss his next start. By his explanation, he's dealt with similar -- albeit less severe -- issues before and he knows how to remedy the problem.
"I just kept throwing and it got better," Gray said. "So I don't think it's anything serious."
Manager Walt Weiss said he noticed something was wrong with Gray from the first inning. Gray took that notion even further, saying he's struggled with fatigue -- and his command, by extension -- over his past three or four starts, but Wednesday was the weakest point. Now he just needs to relax and rebuild.
Gray's injury comes on the heels of the injury to fellow starter Tyler Chatwood, who suffered a back strain on Saturday that landed him on the 15-day disabled list. And while Weiss acknowledged that back-to-back pitching injuries are a bit alarming, he doesn't think the two are necessarily comparable.
"There's always concerns when you've got to take a pitcher out of a game for physical reasons," Weiss said. "We'll check [Gray] out tomorrow and see where he's at. … Like I said, nothing hurts. So hopefully the four days in between he'll be all right. We'll see."