The Boston Red Sox pulled closer Kenley Jansen from the mound during Tuesday night's game against the New York Yankees over an apparent health issue. The veteran pitcher was only able to throw a total of 13 pitches before Boston called it a night for him.

It was not immediately clear what exactly caused the premature end to Jansen's trip to the mound versus their division rivals, but Christopher Smith of MassLive.com later reported that the Red Sox removed the reliever from the game due to “fatigue and illness symptoms.”

Upon his exit from the Yankees game, the Red Sox sent Nick Robertson to finish things up on the mound, tossing a scoreless inning and allowing just a walk with three strikeouts to end the night for Boston, which lost to New York, 4-1.

Prior to this appearance against the Yankees, Kenley Jansen last pitched nearly a week ago during a September 5 game at Tropicana Field against the Tampa Bay Rays. In that game, Jansen got charged for three runs on a hit with a walk issued and zero strikeouts in only 13 pitches thrown. It was a blown save that also earned him his sixth loss of the 2023 MLB regular season.

The Red Sox are still several games out of the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League and almost 20 games behind the top position in the AL East. But if they need any motivation to win games despite their dire playoff chances, it's that they are in a neck-and-neck battle with the Yankees for having the better record by the end of the season.