Masahiro Tanaka cleared an important hurdle Thursday night, throwing three scoreless innings with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders against the Durham Bulls (Rays affiliate).
Tanaka threw 41 pitches, 25 for strikes, and experienced no pain in his wrist or forearm. He only gave up two hard hit balls; a double in the first inning and a single in the third. He walked none and registered two strikeouts, topping out at 92 mph on the stadium gun which is where he was before the injury.
The Yankees haven’t set a timetable for Tanaka’s return to the big league club, but his arrival is believed to be about 2-3 weeks away. He would need at least two more rehab starts to build his arm back up.
Barring another injury to the rotation, Adam Warren would probably be the odd man out when Tanaka returns.
