The Royals set the start Seth Lugo on the list of seven injured people who fainted tonight. That’s right Eli Morgan moving up from Triple-A Omaha to provide an extra bullpen arm for now.
It was a scary incident on Wednesday when Lugo was hit by someone who returned from being hit Brandon Nimmo. The ball came off the bat at 106.6 mph and hit him on the right side of his forehead. Nimmo, a former teammate of Lugo’s with the Mets, was just as worried as the players on the Kansas City side and ran out to the mound to check on the veteran righty as soon as time was called.
Lugo suddenly had a welt on his forehead but thankfully avoided the worst. He was able to leave the game under his control. Manager Matt Quatraro said this afternoon that Lugo felt worse on Friday than yesterday (link via Drew Davison of MLB.com). Still experiencing headaches and increased pressure in the head. A seven-day IL is available even if a player has been officially diagnosed with a concussion or concussion-like symptoms.
The Royals are now down three-fifths of their preferred rotation. Cole Ragans again Chris Bubic they have both been out for a month with elbow problems. Bubic started again on Tuesday but reported shoulder discomfort after that appearance, Qutraro told KC Beat. He will undergo another evaluation this weekend before the Royals decide on their next steps.
Michael Wacha started yesterday’s series finale against Texas. The Royals will run Luinder Avila, Noah Cameron again Stephen Kolek in their scheduled weekend with the Astros. They will need a bullpen game or a new fifth starter on Monday to start the series in Washington. No one in the MLB bullpen is built for rotation work.
Mitch Spencewith an ERA pushing 7.00 in the minors, he is their only healthy depth starter on the 40-man roster. He starts in Omaha tonight, so the Royals clearly don’t see him as a candidate for Monday. Their non-selective starters in the minority list (eg Aaron Sanchez, Ryan Ramsey, Ben Sears, Henry Williams) all struggled.
