Lugo, Ragans both placed on injured list by Royals
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KANSAS CITY -- The Royals’ rotation took a big hit on Saturday when the team placed Seth Lugo (right third finger sprain) and Cole Ragans (left groin strain) on the 15-day injured list. Lugo’s IL stint is retroactive to Wednesday.
Left-handers Noah Cameron -- the team's No. 5 prospect -- and Evan Sisk were recalled from Triple-A Omaha in corresponding moves. Cameron was tapped to start in place of Lugo on Saturday, facing the Cardinals at Kauffman Stadium in his second career start after throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings in his Major League debut on April 30 in a 3-0 win over the Rays.
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Sisk joins a Royals bullpen that had to cover four innings on Friday night and was already down one reliever when Taylor Clarke went on the paternity list.
The Royals won’t make a decision yet on who starts in Ragans’ place when his turn comes up on Wednesday in San Francisco.
"We’re adding Sisk, essentially trading a starter for a reliever,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We’ll get Clarke back on Monday and we’ll just have to see how we get through these days. With Thursday being an off-day, there is a potential to be a bullpen day or come up with something in the interim for Wednesday. We’re not going to get too far ahead of ourselves.”
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Ragans departed Kansas City's 10-3 loss to the Cardinals on Friday because of the recurring groin problem. After finishing fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting last season and making his first All-Star team, Ragans is 2-3 with a 4.53 ERA in nine starts in 2025. He missed one start in April with a mild left groin strain, which allowed Cameron to make his debut as a spot starter.
"It feels fine today, not as stiff as when I came out of the game last night,” Ragans said Saturday. “Take a few days where it’s not getting cranked on and continue throwing and get ready for the end of the IL stint [and] I’m ready to go.”
Ragans said that his injury was never 100% gone before he reinjured it on Friday night.
"I don’t know if it was 100%, there were days that it felt really good and didn’t bother me, and then last night it stiffened up there in the fifth and stayed stiff,” Ragans said.
Lugo has been one of the Royals’ most reliable starters since the club signed him to a two-year deal ahead of the 2024 season. He didn’t miss a start last season when he posted a 3.00 ERA across 206 2/3 innings en route to a runner-up finish in American League Cy Young voting.
And the 35-year-old was off to a strong start again this year, with a 3.02 ERA in nine starts (56 2/3 innings), despite the finger injury becoming a problem, most notably during his start against the Red Sox last weekend.