Yankees scratch Gerrit Cole from scheduled start vs. Phillies with 'body fatigue'

PHILADELPHIA – Gerrit Cole was scratched from Tuesday night’s start against the Phillies, sending alarms blaring throughout Yankees Universe.

The reason was general fatigue, and Cole is expecting to return to the rotation sometime this weekend against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium – perhaps as early as Saturday.

“Just didn’t recover well this week, the body’s kind of fatigued,’’ said Cole, who spent the first two-and-a-half months this year on the injured list due to right elbow irritation.

Cole said there was no issue with his elbow, which began barking in early March. He’s not due to go for any medical testing.

“There’s nothing really specific, it was just hard to bounce back from this last start,’’ Cole said of his 100-pitch effort last Wednesday, yielding six earned runs and three homers in a loss against the Mets.

Rookie right-handed Will Warren started in Cole’s place against the Phillies. Warren was lined up to start at Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, making the Yanks’ decision easier.

After going through his normal between-starts routine, Cole alerted manager Aaron Boone and staff Monday of his general fatigue.

“That kind of gave everyone a little bit of hesitation of, do we really want to send him out?’’ said pitching coach Matt Blake.

“Obviously, it’s a last-minute decision, which gives everybody a little bit of pause or some concern,’’ but Cole was willing to take the ball Tuesday.

“We were close to saying, ‘Let’s just go with it,’ but we all kind of took a step back,’’ Blake said of the organizational decision to use Warren instead.

“Let’s take this decision away from him and just give him a breather here to reset a little bit,’’ Blake said.

"Just felt like the right thing to do was to push (him) back a few days,'' said manager Aaron Boone.

"I feel very fatigued, I’m grinding a little bit,'' said Cole, with a 5.40 ERA in seven starts. He planned to take Tuesday off from throwing and resume tossing on Wednesday.

"Look, I’m still (seven) starts into the season for me, and everyone else is in the middle of it all,'' said Cole, suggesting that the Yankees' option to use Warren made the decision easier to take the additional rest.

"It's just about putting a little more gas in the tank and being in a good position to take the ball next time and the time after that,'' said Cole.

Prior to scratching Cole, the Yankees were linked to interest in Detroit Tigers starter Jack Flaherty ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. MLB trade deadline.

Flaherty went to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Yankees - who were in conversations for a number of relievers - wound up landing only right-handers Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs and Enyel De Los Santos from the Padres.

Warren caught the Yankees' attention in spring training and was on the periphery of a fifth starter competition, won by Luis Gil, after Cole's elbow injury caused a rotation vacancy.

"He's a confident kid. We love his makeup, we love his stuff,'' said Boone. "He's had some bumps in the road this year'' with a 5-5 record and 6.11 ERA in 20 starts at Triple-A, "but he's also dominated a lot of outings, too.

"He has all the equipment to go out there and be successful...he's not a guy who's overwhelmed.''

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Yankees scratch Gerrit Cole from scheduled start vs. Phillies with 'body fatigue'