The Yankees didn’t just suffer a second straight devastating loss to the Red Sox Friday night.
They also suffered two potentially devastating blows to the bullpen.
David Robertson was diagnosed with right shoulder tendinitis after waking up sore Friday and Boone Logan left Friday’s 12-8 loss with discomfort near his left elbow — after he gave up a game-tying grand slam to Mike Napoli — and will get an MRI exam Saturday.
“It’s the worst time ever,” said Robertson, who will be shut down at least five or six days. “It [stinks]. I want to be out there. I was hoping to throw today, but I couldn’t do it.”
The right-hander said he first felt stiffness after he pitched a perfect eighth inning on Thursday, in a game the Yankees wound up blowing in the ninth and losing in the 10th.
“I was very fired up,” Robertson said. “I wanted to put a little extra on the ball.”
Girardi has relied on Logan, Robertson and Mariano Rivera extensively all year, so it’s no shock they are wearing down late in the season.
But with the Yankees trying to hang on in the wild-card race, they suddenly look very vulnerable.
Not only are there question marks surrounding Robertson and Logan, Shawn Kelley is also out with a right triceps injury. Kelly is expected to throw a bullpen Saturday and if all goes well — a big if — he could be back on the mound Sunday.
Logan’s future will be unclear until the MRI comes back and although he tried to downplay the severity of the injury Friday, it’s hard not to fear the worst.
“It’s not in a bad spot in the elbow,” Logan said. “But I still have to find out. I’m optimistic about it, but at the same time, it didn’t feel good.’’
He said he first felt the discomfort “about three pitches” into the Napoli at-bat.
Napoli eventually hit a fly ball to right that eluded Ichiro Suzuki’s glove and bounced off the top of the wall for the crippling home run.
“That was probably the worst miss I’ve had all year,” Logan said. “I was supposed to go in and it was way away.”
With the bullpen in shambles, it gave the Red Sox added confidence.
Manager John Farrell said he was well aware Girardi didn’t have Robertson and Rivera at his disposal Friday.
“I felt like tonight, with Robertson and Rivera unavailable, if we could chip away and get close, there was a real ability to overcome the deficit,” Farrell said. “Knowing that going in, it gives some added confidence and changes our strategy in terms of who we might use to keep the game close.”