PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Reliever Pete Fairbanks fired a pitch high above the strike zone to the Braves' Brock Holt, rotated his right shoulder as he stepped back on the mound and then motioned toward the Rays¡¯ dugout. After a brief chat with manager Kevin Cash, pitching coach Kyle Snyder and first assistant athletic trainer Mike Sandoval, Fairbanks left the game and walked back to the Tampa Bay clubhouse at Charlotte Sports Park.

Fairbanks exited the Rays¡¯ 4-1 win against the Braves on Sunday afternoon after recording one out and throwing only five pitches in the fifth inning due to right lat tightness. He will be further evaluated during the team¡¯s off-day on Monday, the club announced, which should provide a better sense of the injury¡¯s severity.

¡°He¡¯s going to miss some time,¡± Cash said. ¡°You walk off the mound, it's going to take some time to get back out on the mound.¡±

One of the Rays¡¯ top returning relievers, Fairbanks made two trips to the injured list last season due to shoulder issues but finished the season healthy in Tampa Bay¡¯s bullpen. Fairbanks¡¯ lat tightness is apparently unrelated to his shoulder problems from last season, as Cash said the right-hander only felt it on his final pitch of the outing on Sunday.

Fairbanks was effective when healthy last season, posting a 3.59 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings over 47 outings for a Rays bullpen that posted the best ERA in the American League. The 28-year-old picked up five saves in seven opportunities and recorded 14 holds, frequently working in high-leverage situations.

¡°Hopefully it's just something that he's going to be able to bounce back fast [from],¡± left-hander Ryan Yarbrough said. ¡°I think it can be a little scary just how much depth we have and how many good guys we have. So I think just it's just next-man-up, and our guys coming up are still really high quality.¡±

Yarbs sails through spring debut
Yarbrough joked that he was ¡°in midseason form¡± from the start of Sunday¡¯s outing, giving just up three softly hit (and arguably bad batted-ball luck) singles before recording an out, but he really did appear to be in top form through his 3 2/3-inning outing against the Braves.

Yarbrough got out of the first inning unscathed, as Brett Phillips cut down Guillermo Heredia at the plate and Orlando Arcia grounded into an inning-ending double play, then allowed only one walk the rest of the way. The lefty¡¯s increased velocity was on display as his fastball consistently clocked in around 90 mph and his cutter produced the awkward swings he was looking for.

¡°The biggest thing was just seeing how things would tick up," Yarbrough said. "Just for everything we've worked on this offseason with the long toss and mechanical changes. Everything seems to be where it needs to be, with just a little bit of [an] uptick in velo. Especially with the cutters, you're able to kind of get those little awkward swings again, which I feel like I didn't see at all last year. So even after the first outing, that's really encouraging.¡±

Yarbrough threw 59 pitches and worked into the fourth inning, putting him on track to handle at least five innings and 75 pitches by his first outing of the regular season. The lefty led the team with 155 innings last year and his ability to shoulder a similar total will be valuable as the Rays monitor some of their young starters¡¯ innings throughout the year.

¡°Huge. He is a very important part of our pitching staff, pitching rotation,¡± Cash said. ¡°Appreciate the workload that he has taken on and will hopefully continue [to].¡±

Ramirez reports
Outfielder/DH Harold Ramirez, acquired in a trade with the Cubs on Friday night, arrived in Rays camp on Sunday morning, sporting a new No. 43 jersey and some dyed blue hair -- ¡°Ray blue,¡± Cash noted, ¡°not Cub blue.¡±

Actually, it was the team color of Caimanes de Barranquilla, Ramirez¡¯s team in the Colombian Professional Baseball League. But the 27-year-old was still excited to join his new team after a whirlwind few days that saw him report late to Arizona due to visa issues, spend one full day in camp and then get traded two weeks before Opening Day. Not that he¡¯s complaining.

Ramirez immediately encountered a lot of familiar faces in the Rays clubhouse, including fellow former Pirates prospects Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow and fellow Colombian Luis Pati?o, his offseason workout partner in Barranquilla.

¡°I was very excited, because this team -- they like to compete a lot,¡± he said. ¡°They want to go to the playoffs, so I'm going to give my 100 percent over here.¡±

Up next
The Rays are off Monday, but pitchers Shane McClanahan, Chris Mazza, Ryan Thompson and Tommy Romero will work in a simulated game at Charlotte Sports Park as they prepare for the season. When Tampa Bay returns to action on Tuesday, right-hander Drew Rasmussen will start as the Rays host the Orioles at 1:05 p.m. ET, with the game airing on Bally Sports Sun, MLB.tv and MLB.com (audio).