When you hand a starting pitcher a brand-new contract worth $23 million per year, you want to be able to hand them the ball in a September outing with the season on the line.
That’s certainly what the Kansas City Royals wanted when they inked Seth Lugo to a two-year extension only five weeks ago. But with the series finale against the Los Angeles Angels looming and the Royals hoping to avoid a sweep, Lugo won’t be taking the ball as previously scheduled.
On Wednesday, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported that rookie left-hander Noah Cameron, not Lugo will be starting the Thursday Angels finale. Lugo is dealing with back tightness, and according to manager Matt Quatraro, he will be further evaluated Thursday to assess whether he can pitch this weekend.
“The severity of Lugo’s back tightness was unknown on Wednesday, as was whether he’s been dealing with it for longer than the past two days as Quatraro said,” wrote Rogers.
“Cameron is slotting back into the rotation on nine days of rest after the Royals did skip his start over the weekend against the Tigers because of fatigue.”
If Lugo has been dealing with the back issue for a while, it might explain why he’s been so uncharacteristically hittable since inking the extension. Lugo held a 2.95 ERA through his first 19 starts this year, but since his Aug. 29 start against the Atlanta Braves, he’s pitched to an 8.35 ERA in 32 1/3 innings (seven starts).
The Royals have been without ace Cole Ragans for most of the season, and lost All-Star Kris Bubic at the end of July. They can ill afford to move forward without Lugo, yet one could argue they’ve already been missing his impact for the last month and a half even though he’s been taking the ball.
Meanwhile, Cameron will be under a ton of pressure to perform on Thursday after his brief respite. The rookie owns a 2.92 ERA through his first 19 career starts.
More MLB: Bobby Witt Jr. Accepts Blame As Royals’ Playoff Odds Plummet
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
