Kansas City Royals right-handed pitcher Michael Lorenzen saw his name penciled in the starting rotation this week.
It was a long time coming.
Lorenzen missed 25 games with a left oblique injury. He was sidelined prior to the All-Star Break after he aggravated his oblique while batting a sickness. The Royals made the decision to allow the injury discomfort to subside in recent weeks.
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“It’s just a freak thing,” Lorenzen said. “But to be able to come back, I worked as hard as I possibly could to come back as fast as I could.”
Lorenzen was one of three Opening Day starters on the injured list. He joined left-handers Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic — both dealing with a left rotator cuff strain — on the shelf.
In their stead, the Royals acquired starting pitchers Ryan Bergert and Bailey Falter at the MLB trade deadline. Bergert solidified his rotation spot after two dynamic outings while Falter was moved to the bullpen.
Lorenzen will settle back into his starting role. This season, he owns a 4.61 ERA in 18 starts for the club. In his last start, Lorenzen tossed seven scoreless innings on July 6 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
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And he will return armed with a few adjustments.
“Mechanically, I figured out some stuff and cleaned out some bad habits that I had over those rehab outings, which was perfect,” Lorenzen said. “I tried to fight to come back without any rehab outings. But I think they made the right move by having me make those outings just because of the bad habits that I built in to keep throwing and stuff like that. I got those all ironed out and I feel pretty confident about it.”
Lorenzen made two rehab starts with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He pitched into the sixth inning in his final appearance and reached 85 pitches.
“It was really good reports,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “I mean, he said he didn’t feel anything oblique-wise.”
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The Royals decided to have Lorenzen start on Saturday (6:10 p.m. Central) against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. He was grateful for the rehab starts because it allowed him to pitch with his glove side rotation once again.
It helped him iron out his slider and curtail yanking his fastball. He found the confidence to open his delivery more without worrying about discomfort from his oblique.
“I felt healthy throwing, so I felt that was enough for me,” Lorenzen said. “But the pitch quality wasn’t good enough.”
Lorenzen has found something since his final rehab start. He regained his command in the bullpen.
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Now, he returns as the Royals look to make a postseason push. KC is currently navigating a 10-game homestand with games remaining against the White Sox and Texas Rangers.
“I’m glad I didn’t have to put our team in a hole during those two starts trying to figure it out,” Lorenzen said. “So, I feel ready to roll, and I feel 100% myself again.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.sports.yahoo.com ’
