Royals lose pitchers Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo to the 15-day injured list

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Royals All-Star pitchers Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo were placed on the 15-day injured list on Saturday.

Left-hander Ragans was moved to the list with a left groin strain and right-hander Lugo with a third finger sprain.

Lefties Noah Cameron and Evan Sisk were recalled from Triple-A Omaha in corresponding moves.

Cameron is slated to start for the Royals against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night. It would be the second start of his career.

Ragans exited in the sixth inning of a 10-3 loss to the Cardinals on Saturday night with groin tightness. He had given up four runs on five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings before exiting the game.

“The groin feels fine today, not as stiff as when I came out of the game last night,” Ragans said. “Just a couple of weeks of rest, continue throwing and get ready to go after the IL stint.”

The 2024 All-Star selection is 2-3 with a 4.53 ERA in nine starts this season. Ragans skipped a start on April 30 with a left groin strain.

“With Ragans, we didn’t know it was going to happen,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We were hoping that taking the one out of the rotation would help, but we are going to need to take a little more measures and have him out on the IL.”

Lugo, also a 2024 All-Star, has not pitched since May 11. He is 3-4 with a 3.02 ERA in nine starts this season.

“The finger feels better and has progressed pretty good so far,” Lugo said. “At this point of the season, it is better to get healthy and be 100% out there than try to push through.”

Lugo and Ragans finished second and fourth, respectively, in the American League Cy Young ballot last season. Lugo won an AL Gold Glove.

“We were hopeful we could be able to avoid (the injured list) with Lugo, but with the inflammation still there and essentially a sprained middle finger,” Quatraro said. “We just need to get him symptom-free before he can start throwing again.”

Ragans is the team leader in strikeouts and second in the American League with 72. Lugo is the team leader in innings pitched with 56.2 innings.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb