Blue Jays’ Brandon Morrow leaves start with forearm discomfort

Toronto Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow was removed from his afternoon start Tuesday after just two innings because of forearm discomfort, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca. Toronto does not expect the right-hander to miss his next start on Sunday, but that could change as the week progresses.

When he was initially removed, there was a chance the Blue Jays pulled Morrow simply for poor performance -- he allowed four runs in his two innings of work -- but that doesn't appear to be the case. It's not all that common to pull a seasoned starter after just 47 pitches unless something's wrong, especially when the alternative is Ramon Ortiz.

Morrow didn't have any command problems during his outing (a la Ricky Romero), but his velocity was down considerably. The right-hander's fastball typically sits comfortably in the mid-90s, topping out at 98 miles per hour, but on Tuesday Morrow couldn't touch anything over 91 mph.

While Morrow has struggled mightily this year, a serious injury would still be devastating to an already depleted Blue Jays rotation. Both Josh Johnson (triceps) and J.A. Happ (concussion) are out indefinitely, leaving the club to rely on the aforementioned Ortiz, Chad Jenkins, and Romero, who is currently sporting an earned-run average over 13.00 and a K/BB ratio of 0.15(!) in four starts at Triple-A.