PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – The timing could have been worse.
Just when the road to recovery for Tampa Bay Rays’ lefthander Shane McClanahan was promising and the quest to regain his stature as a viable Cy Young Award candidate appeared possible, a terrible scenario appeared like a dark, ominous cloud.
Seemingly as efficient as ever, McClanhan was cruising into the third inning of his final start of the spring Saturday against Boston in Charlotte Sports Park. With one out in that frame, the first pitch to second baseman Kristian Campbell was fouled off the right forearm of Jeremie Rehak, the plate umpire. While the medical staff rushed to care for Rehak, McClanahan made an equal sprint to the Rays dugout.
Immediately, manager Kevin Cash pulled the lefthander, and the diagnosis was a left triceps tightness. From a sports medical standpoint, this could mean several things, and Cash, meeting with reporters after the Rays 14-2 victory over the Red Sox, simply said, “(Shane) will miss some time.”
Within the perspective of McClanahan’s injury, triceps is a thick band of tissue which connects the back of the elbow. Immediately after McClanhan delivered that fateful pitch to Robinson, he could be seen shaking a dangling left arm.
McClanhan’s road back appeared trouble-free.
Coming off Tommy John surgery in August, 2023, he was held out of baseball activity until the current spring training. Two other Tampa Bay starters, Drew Rasmussen and Shane Baz each underwent Tommy John surgery around the same time and returned last season. The Rays held McClanahan back and hoped for a full and complete recovery.
That appeared as the best-case scenario, and the results were positive. For his three starts this spring, including 2.1 innings Saturday against Boston, the native of Baltimore allowed five hits in seven innings and no runs.
McClanahan was scheduled to open this season for the Rays this coming Friday at home against the Colorado Rockies. That will not happen and pending imaging and MRI results, the initial timetable for McClanahn remains uncertain.
“Obviously, (Shane) tweaked something and I feel for me,” said outfielder Josh Lowe. “He’s worked his butt off to get back into this spot and get the opening day start. For him to probably not get that start now, my heart breaks for him. But I know he’ll be back, and bounce back from what this is.”
From his Saturday start, McClanahan showed no sign of any malady, any issue or something which might be deemed catastrophic. Striking out Robinson to lead off the game with a 98-mile-per-hour fastball, McClanahan appeared in mid-season form. He fanned three of the first five Boston batters and allowed only two runners, a two out, second inning double from catcher Carlor Narvaez, and followed a walk to Roman Anthony, the Sox center fielder.
After inducing Marcelo Mayer, the number nine hitter, to bounce the shortstop to open the third, that first pitch to Robinson ended McClanahan’s comeback, for now.
“Very unfortunate for Shane and he will miss time,” Cash told reporters after the game. “We will have a better understanding once he gets some imaging done. It is a triceps and from that, I do not have a ton after that.”
Requests to make Rays’ trainer Joe Benge available for an explanation were denied. Instead, a spokesperson for the team told reporters that Benge said the triceps issue from Saturday was not related to McClanahan’s previous left foreman tightness that resulted in the Tommy John surgery.
With McClanhan now sidelined for an indefinite period, that puts into motion the reality of a potential six-man rotation. Prior to Saturday’s game, Cash told reporters that conversation surrounding who and who would not be part of the opening day rotation would be discussions of immediate concerns.
Among the six, Cash could move Ryan Pepiot, Zack Littell, Taj Bradley, and the three, McClanahan, Baz, Rasmussen, recovering from Tommy John surgery, into the starting rotation. Now, with McClanahan sidelined, the rotation appears to be set with Rasmussen, Baz, Bradley, Pepiot, and Littell. The outstanding issue, as opening day approaches, is who will replace McClanahan as the starter.
“I have on a 2.5 hour drive home and we’ll talk through a potential opening day starter on the phone,” Cash said. “Right now, we are pretty well positioned for just about all of them and they are available to go. We’ll talk through all of that.”
On the diamond … the Rays concluded the home portion of their spring schedule with that 14-2 win over the Red Sox. The victory pushed Tampa Bay to a spring mark of 12-12-2 with two games remaining. The 20-hit attack was led by minor league catcher Kenny Piper, who went 2-for-2, four RBIs, and a three-run triple in the second. The Rays conclude their spring slate Sunday against the Yankees in Tampa and on Monday in Clearwater against the Phillies. Right-hander Ryan Pepiot will pitch against the Yankees and manager Kevin Cash will use closer Pete Fairbanks as “an opener” against the Phillies in the spring finale.
