The Royals announced that two of their top starters are heading to the 15-day injured list. Cole Ragans has been sidelined due to a left groin strain, while Seth Lugo (whose placement is retroactive to May 14) is dealing with a sprained middle finger on his throwing hand. Left-hander Noah Cameron was called up from Triple-A and will start today’s game against the Cardinals, and fellow southpaw Evan Sisk has also been called up in a corresponding move.
Neither IL placement comes as a big surprise, as it was already known that Cameron would be making a spot start in what was initially Lugo’s regular turn in the rotation today. Lugo’s finger issue was initially described as inflammation, and it arose in his last outing on May 11. The official diagnosis of a sprain indicates that a scan revealed something beyond just soreness, so while the original plan was just for Lugo to miss one start, the veteran right-hander will now get at least 15 days of rest and recuperation.
Ragans had one of his own starts skipped a few weeks ago due to a groin strain, and he left during the sixth inning of yesterday’s game with St. Louis due to a similar groin issue. Ragans will now also head to the IL in order to hopefully put this injury behind him, and the nagging groin problem could explain why Ragans has a 7.20 ERA (eight earned runs over 10 innings) in his last two starts.
More to come…
