Roy Halladay, left, is removed by manager Cito Gaston on Friday. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay will skip his next scheduled start after being diagnosed with a mild groin strain on Saturday.
Halladay, who's listed as "day-to-day," exited after two pitches in the fourth inning of Friday night's 7-3 loss to Florida. He tried a warmup pitch before leaving the field.
The big right-hander will miss Wednesday's scheduled start against the Philadelphia Phillies and is tentatively scheduled to return next Saturday at Washington.
"He'd have to convince me he's OK," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said after Saturday afternoon's 6-5 defeat to the Marlins. "And I think he's smart, he's not going to go out there [if he's not OK]."
Gaston indicated that Scott Richmond would fill in for Halladay against the Phillies.
Halladay (10-1) leads the major leagues in wins and sports a 2.53 earned-run average in 14 starts. He has also struck out 88 batters in 103 innings pitched.
"Doc works hard, he wants to pitch, but he also is smart, too," Gaston said. "Some guys might have tried to stay out there [Friday] night but he didn't, he knew there was something going on. It's better that you're that way than trying to play through it some times.
"If he feels like he can go then he's going to be honest about it, he's just not going to go out try something and set himself back. We don't want that to happen."
With files from the Canadian Press
