Injured Yankees ace pitcher Gerrit Cole expected to miss 1 to 2 months

March 13 (UPI) -- New York Yankees ace pitcher Gerrit Cole, who was already ruled out for opening day, is expected to miss one to two months because of a right elbow injury.

Sources told the New York Post, CBS Sports and The Athletic about Cole's injury timeline Wednesday. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters that Cole underwent scans on the elbow Tuesday and will visit Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Cole told the Yankees he was struggling to recover between innings and experiencing fatigue at spring training.

He allowed four hits and three runs over two innings in the Yankees' 8-4 preseason win over the Toronto Blue Jays on March 1 in Tampa, Fla. He was scheduled to make his second start Tuesday but was shut down by the Yankees.

The reigning Cy Young Award winner went 15-4 with an American League-best 2.63 ERA over 209 innings and 33 starts last season. He went 13-8 with a 3.50 ERA over 200 2/3 innings in 33 starts in 2022.

Cole made a total of 108 starts and pitched 664 innings through his first four seasons with the Yankees. For his career, he is 145-75 with a 3.17 ERA over 1,859 innings in 300 starts.

The Yankees will face the Detroit Tigers in another spring training game at 1:05 p.m. EDT Thursday in Lakeland, Fla. They will battle the Houston Astros in their regular-season opener at 4:10 p.m. March 28 in Houston.