It only took 12 pitches for the Los Angeles Angels to forget about their six-game winning streak and start worrying about a much bigger loss: their ace pitcher Jered Weaver.
In the first inning of his start against the Yankees Monday night, Weaver stumbled off the mound in obvious discomfort after delivering a pitch to Robinson Cano, the fourth batter of the game.
Weaver suffered what the team called a lower-back injury. He will undergo MRI and X-rays on Tuesday. Based on those results, the Angels will decided whether to place him on the 15-day disabled list.
"I've never felt anything like that before. It felt like somebody stabbed me in the back," Weaver said. "I couldn't really do much about it. It's very disappointing. You get motivated for games like this."
If Weaver is forced to miss any time, it is another big blow to the Angels rotation. Weaver entered Monday with a 6-1 record and a 2.61 ERA. This follows his 18-8 season last year in which he finished second in Al Cy Young voting.
The Angels rotation, expected to be a strength of the team, has struggled this season with injuries and inconsistent play. But they had a bright spot the other night when Dan Haren, who has battled back injuries this year, pitched his best game, throwing a complete game shutout and striking out 14 batters against the Mariners last week.
The Angels cannot afford too many more bad breaks. A team expected to compete for the World Series, they currently sit 6.5 games behind the reigning AL Champion Texas Rangers.
Fortunately the Angels were able to pick up Weaver following his exit. After falling down 3-0 in the first, Los Angeles rebounded to score four in the bottom of the frame to take the lead. The back-and-forth game went into the seventh with the Yankees down three. A Russell Martin two-out, two-run double tied the game at 8.
Still tied in the bottom of the ninth, Mark Trumbo sent everyone home run into the leftfield stands. For the Angels it marked the end of nine innings of relief pitching, 15 hits, three errors and two blown three-run leads.
"I was super proud of the way we came together against a really good team," said Trumbo, who also doubled and tripled. "Of course they're going to score some runs in that situation, but it's huge the way we came back from the first inning on."