Royals Ace Injured Early in Start vs. Guardians

Cole Ragans' outing for the Kansas City Royals against the Cleveland Guardians was dramatically cut short on Wednesday. The promising start quickly unraveled when Ragans was struck on his throwing hand by a 92.4 mph line drive off the bat of José Ramírez. Despite initial attempts to continue pitching, including throwing more warmup pitches, Ragans was unable to remain effective.

Following the injury, Ragans walked two batters and gave up a two-run double before exiting the game. He was removed after just two-thirds of an inning and 18 pitches. Manager Matt Quatraro and head athletic trainer Kyle Turner attended to Ragans on the mound. Reliever Luinder Avila entered the game to provide much-needed length from the bullpen, which was fortunate as Avila had been rested and available.