CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians will be without reliever Nick Sandlin for the remainder of the major league playoffs with a strained right shoulder muscle.
The leaders of the Guardians said on Monday that a magnetic resonance imaging examination had detected the elongation of the teres major muscle. The right-handed pitcher will be held completely inactive for six weeks, rendering him unable to play any other games this season.
Sandlin had to step off the mound in the 10th inning of Saturday’s game, which the Guardians won 1-0 in the 15th inning against the Tampa Bay Rays, due to what the team described as “stiffness at the upper part of the arm.
The Guardians will begin their American League second-round series against the Yankees in New York on Tuesday, after sweeping a best-of-three series against the Rays.
The Guardians have until 10 a.m. Tuesday morning to replace Sandlin in their 26-man roster.
Sandlin has proven to be a reliable member of the Guardians’ strong reliever squad this season. In 46 outings, he went 5-2 with a 2.25 ERA.
Sandlin had missed the last month of the calendar in 2021 with a pulled shoulder muscle.
