KANSAS CITY – The Royals were hoping to welcome back all three members of the top of their rotation from the injured list this week, but Seth Lugo's recovery from a low back strain hit a snag on Monday.
The 35-year-old Lugo didn’t respond well to the aggressive bullpen he threw Monday, so he won’t be able to make Thursday’s start against the Mariners. Instead, the Royals will have righty Stephen Kolek make that start, following Michael Wacha’s return from the seven-day concussion injured list on Tuesday and Cole Ragans’ return from the 60-day injured list (left rotator cuff strain) on Wednesday.
Lugo will be shut down from throwing for the next few days to see if his symptoms resolve and he can get back on the mound.
“[Lugo] is going to be day to day,” manager Matt Quatraro said ahead of Tuesday’s game against Seattle. “It’s going to depend on his symptoms as to when he starts getting back into throwing.”
Lugo has been on the 15-day IL since Sept. 4 (retroactive to Sept. 1) with a low back strain, but both Quatraro and general manager J.J. Picollo said Monday that the club is not concerned about this being a long-term issue. Lugo has managed back issues his entire career after he had surgery in 2012 to address spondylolisthesis, a condition where a vertebra in the spine slips out of alignment.
“It’s not a career-threatening type of thing,” Picollo said. “It’s just something that’s nagging him, and he’s not ready to come back. We’ve just got to give it another couple of days, see how it feels, and figure out if he can make a start next week.”
Lugo has a 4.15 ERA this season, inflated because of the rough second half -- and especially August -- he endured, with a 7.51 ERA post All-Star break and 27 earned runs allowed across 26 2/3 innings in August. A season after making 33 starts and throwing 206 2/3 innings en route to a runner-up finish for American League Cy Young, Lugo has made 26 starts and thrown 145 1/3 innings in 2025.
When asked whether they had thought about shutting Lugo down now rather than try to make it back for the final week of the regular season, Picollo said the Royals were “not there yet.”
“We’re not worried about shutting him down,” Picollo said. “The nature of the injury is not major. If he says he can go, he’s going to pitch next week. There’s no need to shut him down.”