DETROIT — Just when you’d think absolutely nothing could surprise you when it comes to the Yankees players getting hurt this season, one in which they’ve sent a major league record 30 players to the injured list, media relations director Jason Zillo made a stunning statement between games of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers.

Following the Yankees’ 10-4 Game 1 victory, Zillo chimed in during manager Aaron Boone’s post-game news conference to announce that opening-game starter J.A. Happ would be talking via conference call because he was on his way to New York to see team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad.

It seems like a Yankees player goes down every few days, so it wasn’t a shock to hear that Happ is dealing with biceps tendinitis even after Boone talked about designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion also heading back to New York because he was forced out of Game 1 with a left oblique strain.

The hard-to-believe part of Happ’s issue is that his trip to New York had been planned for a few days because he’s been dealing with the biceps tendinitis for a few starts.

That’s right, Happ was allowed to make several starts with this injury because he and the Yankees believe it’s nothing serious.

It’s hard to believe that anyone would sign off on this considering how much the Yankees’ medical and training teams has been in the spotlight this season due to several players’ injuries getting worse during rehabbing, namely No. 1 starter Luis Severino, star reliever Dellin Betances and $70-million center fielder Aaron Hicks.

The Yankees may be right this time. Maybe Happ’s issue turns out to be no big deal and he makes his next scheduled start at Yankee Stadium next week. Regardless, he’s not with the Yankees in Toronto this weekend because of his biceps tendinitis, which will be treated with anti-inflammatory medicine.

“We kind of determined it’s not anything abnormal or something that’s he’s dealt with at different times throughout his career,” Boone said. “We feel like he’s going to be fine moving forward and obviously he’s in a pretty good place throwing the ball right now.”

Apparently Happ doing very well in two starts leading into Thursday’s start – he’d worked 12 1/3 shutout innings – played a role in the Yankees not shutting him down. Against the Tigers, Happ was pulled after 4 2/3 innings with the Yankees ahead 4-2 because his pitch count had swelled to 99 and Detroit scored two runs on three hits in the fifth.

"A lot of long at-bats today, but overall I felt he still pitched pretty well,” Boone said.

From Boone’s statement, it’s apparent that the Yankees think Happ’s arm issue had nothing to do with his high pitch count against the Tigers, but there’s still no excuse for not getting him checked when the biceps tendinitis was first discovered.

And there’s no excuse for the Yankees letting Happ help sway their decision by saying he’s dealt with this issue in past seasons and got through it. The Yankees are gunning for home-field advantage in the playoffs and think they can win a World Series, so why risk anything allowing a player dealing with a seemingly minor injury to keep pitching. The Yankees know like everyone else that minor arm injuries turn into major ordeals all the time.

Buy Yankees tickets: StubHub, SeatGeek, PrimeSport

But Happ wanted to keep pitching, and he got his way.

“Generally the organization, most organizations, take a cautious approach,” Happ said. “I think after all we talked and I expressed exactly how I am feeling and the fact we’ve been through this before … I definitely wanted to pitch.

“The last time I had this, I was pitching in the middle of pitching really well. So I am just trying to rely on the fact that I have done it before. I think I can still go out there and get results. I don’t think today I was as sharp as I was the last couple, but I don’t directly correlate to the shoulder. I think I will be fine and I can adjust to whatever way I am feeling.”

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.