ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — By the time bench coach Tony Pena noticed Ivan Nova shaking his right arm the game was lost.
Now, tests taken Saturday night will determine the severity of Nova’s elbow problem after he was pummeled by the light-hitting Rays in a 16-1 beating that was witnessed by 30,159 inside Tropicana Field.
While no one would guess at what tests Nova underwent late Saturday evening would reveal, the possibility the Yankees’ No. 3 starter at the beginning of the season could be headed to the DL or worse is in play.
“Anytime you lose a starter it’s a big blow,’’ manager Joe Girardi said. “Starters aren’t easy to replace. It’s a concern.’’
In four-plus innings Nova gave up eight runs and eight hits, four of which were homers.
After the second pitch to Evan Longoria in the fifth, Pena saw Nova shaking his arm and alerted Girardi.
“Right away I saw him shaking his arm, and I told Joe to take him out,’’ Pena said.
With Nova gone the beating didn’t stop. Matt Daley, who arrived from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, gave up six runs (four earned) and five hits in 1 ¹/₃ innings. By the eighth inning Girardi turned to starting shortstop Dean Anna to pitch with instructions not to throw hard enough to hurt his arm.
Ryan Hanigan and Wil Myers homered twice for the winners, who have outscored the Yankees 27-6 in the last two games. Hanigan drove in six runs, the last two coming on a single off Anna. Evan Longoria homered off Nova and had a two-run single off Daley as he continued to punish Yankees pitching.
While the Rays were spanking the Yankees’ pitchers, Chris Archer did what he normally does to the visitor’s bats. In 6 ²/₃ innings the right-hander allowed a run and three hits. He is 4-0 with a 1.26 ERA in four career starts against the Yankees.
Watching Nova give up four homers was surprising since he started the game with the fourth-lowest HR/9.0IP ratio among AL starters (0.62) since the beginning of the 2013 season among pitchers with 20 starts. He had allowed one or fewer homers in 26 straight starts going back to 2012.
Yet, Myers crushed a curveball in the second, Longoria swatted another hanging curveball for a two-run homer in the third, Hanigan hit a fastball leading off the third and another heater for two runs in the fourth.
Myers homered off Daley in the fifth.
“It’s location, his pitches were up in the zone,’’ catcher Brian McCann said of Nova.
Secretly, many position players want the chance to pitch in a big league game.
Nevertheless, Anna said he knew the deal when Girardi gave him the ball.
“He told me, ‘Don’t throw too hard and let them hit it,’ ” said Anna, who gave up three hits and two runs in one inning in his first mound assignment since he was 11. “You see me in there and you know it’s not too good of a day.’’
Saturday was a terrible night for the Yankees. Not only did they get embarrassed by a team that has been struggling at the plate, they may have lost a starter, albeit an ineffective one, to injury.
“It only counts as one,’’ Girardi said of the loss. “it was lopsided and ugly but only counts as one.’’
If Nova is gone for a long time the loss will feel like more than one.