Royals Dealt Tough Blow After Staff Ace Leaves With Groin Injury

The Kansas City Royals suffered a blowout loss at the hands of their I-70 rivals the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night. St. Louis won by a final score of 10-3.

What soured the game even further for Kansas City was a rough start by ace Cole Ragans, who went five innings and allowed four runs.

With nobody out and a man on in the top of the sixth, the Royals trailed St. Louis 3-2, but Ragans was forced to exit the game with a groin injury. The severity wasn't immediately clear, but this was certainly a big blow for the Royals.

"Ragans didn't look his best tonight, as while he managed to strikeout seven through five innings, he still surrendered four earned runs on five hits, three of which were doubles," Caleb Moody of FanSided wrote.

"His velocity was something that was also cause for concern, as after coming out for the sixth inning to face Masyn Winn, Jackson Stone of MLB.com reported that Ragans' third pitch was a fastball that clocked in at 89.5 mph - 6 mph lower than his season average on his heater."

Velocity was obviously a concern for Ragans on Friday, but any time without their staff ace would be a significant blow for the Royals, who have turned their season around after an 8-14 start.

Fortunately, they have received major contributions from Kris Bubic, so the rotation at least has somebody to lean on, but that doesn't take the sting out of possibly losing Ragans.

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