Royals’ Cole Ragans leaves Guardians game early

The Kansas City Royals are looking for their sixth straight win against the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday. They were off to a solid start until their pitching situation got flipped upside down. Royals starter Cole Ragans left the game after just three innings of work, although no injury has been reported yet.

“Ragans is out of the game, [Luinder] Avila takes over for the fourth. Ragans threw 58 pitches in three scoreless innings,” Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported.

The 28-year-old Ragans is in his fourth season with the Royals, but his results are not getting better. He finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2024, but has not repeated that finish since. In seven starts before Wednesday. Ragans had a 5.29 ERA and leads the American League with ten home runs allowed.

This is not the only pitching injury the Royals have dealt with this series. Noah Cameron was scratched from his Tuesday start with a lower-back injury, but the team does not expect him to miss another start.

Ragans was dominating before being pulled from the game. He had held the Guardians to just one hit in three innings, allowing just two walks in the process. The Royals were winning 1-0 when he was pulled, but Luinder Avila allowed two runs in his two innings to give up that lead.

The American League has been very weak to start the year, with just three teams entering Wednesday with a record above .500. That has been huge for the Royals, who got off to a brutal start to the season. But a sweep of the Mariners leading into a series split, at least, over the Guardians has them in the race.

The Royals and Guardians finish their four-game set in Kansas City with a Thursday matinee. After that, the Detroit Tigers come to town to face KC.