Rays left-hander Colin Poche suffered an oblique strain Tuesday night and is done for the year, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
Poche, 28, has been a useful hurler for the Rays this year, with Tuesday night being his 65th appearance of the season. It wasn’t a great outing, as he allowed four earned runs in just a third of an inning. But coming into the game, he had a 3.39 ERA in 58 1/3 frames for the season, along with a 26.3% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 32.5% ground-ball rate.
With Poche out, the Rays will lose another southpaw from their bullpen mix just as they are about to begin a wild-card series against the Guardians, who have a significant number of guys who hit from the left side of the plate. Steven Kwan, Josh Naylor and Andrés Giménez are all lefties, while José Ramírez is a switch-hitter.
Jalen Beeks, another lefty, also recently landed on the injured list. Without Poche and Beeks, Tampa will be left with Brooks Raley and Garrett Cleavinger as the primary southpaws in their relief corps. However, since Poche is done for the year, the club could put him on the 60-day injured list and select another reliever to the roster. Poche has crossed three years of MLB service time this year and will therefore be eligible for arbitration in the offseason.
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