KANSAS CITY — As they try to hunt down a playoff spot during this final month of the regular season, the Royals will be without one of their top arms for at least two weeks.
Right-hander Seth Lugo was placed on the 15-day injured list on Thursday with a low back strain. The move is retroactive to Sept. 1, and Lugo and the Royals are hoping it’s a minimum 15-day stint.
In the meantime, Stephen Kolek was recalled from Triple-A Omaha and is expected to make Saturday’s start against the Twins. Kolek, one of the pitchers the Royals acquired at the Trade Deadline from the Padres, was optioned after his start last Saturday against the Tigers — when he allowed one run in six innings while filling in for Noah Cameron — but was able to return to the big leagues before the 15-day minimum because he’s replacing an injured player.
Lugo, the 2024 American League Cy Young runner-up, has struggled mightily in the second half with a 7.51 ERA and a 9.11 ERA in his past six starts. He said Thursday that he felt increased back tightness when he went out for his bullpen session on Tuesday. It didn’t get better on Wednesday when he played catch, so the Royals pushed him back from his originally scheduled start against the Angels on Thursday, opting to have the rookie Cameron take the ball instead.
Lugo was scheduled for a bullpen Thursday to see if he’d be ready to go by this weekend. It was quickly determined that he wouldn’t be.
“It’s pretty stiff,” Lugo said, describing how he felt the previous two days. “I thought over the course of a full start, it would affect me more than I would like. So playing it smart.”
Manager Matt Quatraro said the club was still developing a treatment and return-to-play plan for Lugo at the time the roster move was made on Thursday. But when asked if he was optimistic whether Lugo would return this season, Quatraro was quick to answer.
“Oh yes, for sure,” Quatraro said.
As Thursday’s slate of games began, Kansas City sat 2 1/2 games back of an AL Wild Card spot.
And if they want to make a run in October, the Royals will need Lugo not only back on the mound, but at his best. Something has clearly not been right with Lugo for the past month, although he and the club have publicly denied that the 35-year-old has been pitching through an injury.
Lugo’s season ERA has ballooned to 4.15 now after being as low as 2.65 at the beginning of July. His 3.41 walks-per-nine innings is the second-highest of his career, well above his 2.09 mark in 2024. He finished five innings just once in the six starts he made in August.
Lugo said he’s “always” trying to manage his back after the surgery he had in 2012 to address a condition called spondylolisthesis.
“But it’s been a couple years since it’s been enough that I thought it would affect my pitching,” Lugo said.
By Thursday, he and the Royals felt the smartest thing to do would be to give Lugo rest and recovery in hopes of getting him right physically and mentally for the final few weeks of the season.
This will be Lugo’s second IL stint this season after he missed two starts in May with a right finger injury. He was shaky in his return from that injury but then got on a roll, pitching to a 2.25 ERA across eight starts from June 12 to July 23. That turned Lugo into one of the top trade candidates at the Deadline in July, but the Royals responded to those rumors by signing Lugo to a two-year, $46 million extension in the middle of the season.
Lugo’s current IL stint means the Royals have three members of their Opening Day rotation on the IL again. He joins Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic, both dealing with left rotator cuff strains. Bubic will be out for the season, but Ragans could go out on a rehab assignment by this weekend.
Kansas City has had to dip into its pitching depth over and over this season. Kolek is the next man up and will slide into the rotation that includes Cameron, Michael Wacha, Ryan Bergert and Michael Lorenzen.
