José Berríos struggled in his third rehab outing on Tuesday night.
Pitching for the triple-A Buffalo Bisons, Berríos allowed five earned runs — including a pair of homers — with two walks and two strikeouts over four innings against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
The veteran right-hander threw 42 of his 70 pitches for strikes and averaged just 91.9 m.p.h. with his fastball. The diminished velocity continued a concerning trend that arose last season, when Berríos averaged 92.5 m.p.h. with his heater.
Berríos averaged between 93.6-94 m.p.h. in each of the previous three seasons.
The 31-year-old took the hill with a five-run lead in the bottom of the first, but Spencer Jones — the New York Yankees' No. 6-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline — immediately clawed one back with a solo home run.
The RailRiders scored a pair of runs in each of the next two innings, as Jones hit a two-run single and Seth Brown evened the score with a two-run shot.
Berríos told Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith on Sunday that he could be set for an MLB return if Tuesday's rehab outing went well.
"Physically, I've been feeling great," Berríos said.
Berríos began the season on the injured list with a stress fracture in his elbow. He was seemingly healthy entering spring training, but as he went through a physical in an attempt to join Team Puerto Rico at the World Baseball Classic, an MRI revealed elbow inflammation.
1:48
3:32