Moreno placed on DL with elbow discomfort

CHICAGO -- Yankees rookie right-hander Diego Moreno, who impressed the club with 5 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings of relief last week at Texas, is heading to the disabled list with discomfort in his right elbow.

Moreno reported the issue on Sunday, one day after he permitted four runs in three innings of an 8-2 loss to the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. Moreno will be seen by team physician Christopher Ahmad on Monday in New York, manager Joe Girardi said.

"The back of his elbow is bothering him," Girardi said before his club's 12-3 victory over the White Sox in Sunday's series finale. "It's not the ligament, it's not the forearm. He'll see Dr. Ahmad tomorrow. It's unfortunate. Hopefully it's not long."

In a corresponding roster move, the Yankees recalled right-hander Branden Pinder from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Pinder worked 1 1/3 innings Sunday, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Moreno, 28, picked up his first Major League victory on July 28 at Texas, taking over after Chris Capuano was unable to make it out of the first inning. Moreno struck out five, throwing 70 pitches in the Yanks' 21-5 victory.

Girardi said that the elbow issue might have affected Moreno in his 52-pitch outing on Saturday, in which he served up a three-run homer to Melky Cabrera.

"It could have. He didn't say anything during the game," Girardi said. "He said in the middle of the night it kind of started aching, and it was sore today, so we decided to DL him right away."

Worth noting

• Girardi said that he considered putting infielder/outfielder Dustin Ackley in the starting lineup on Sunday, but Carlos Beltran unexpectedly had Saturday off with a sore left foot. Beltran was ready to return to the lineup on Sunday, so Ackley will have to wait for his first start with the Yankees.

Beltran went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored in Sunday's victory, while Ackley went 0-1 after replacing designated hitter Alex Rodriguez.

• Sunday's contest marks the Yankees' final regular-season game out of the Eastern time zone.

"From a physical standpoint, it's helpful," Girardi said. "We're still going to get into some cities at 3:30 or 4 in the morning, but you don't have any really long flights anymore. The longest flight will probably be Tampa. I think that's helpful."

• CC Sabathia is listed as the Yankees' probable starter for Thursday, an outing the team expects the left-hander to make. Sabathia was hospitalized for dehydration after pitching in triple-digit temperatures on Thursday in Texas.

"Right now, everything is planned for him to go Thursday," Girardi said. "To me, he looked a lot better [Saturday]. He was pretty tired on Friday when he got here. He said they were in his room every 20 minutes checking him. It's kind of hard to sleep that way."