The Kansas City Royals announced that they placed right -handed Seth Lugo On the 15-day wounded list because of a lower back tribe. Righty Stephen Kolek has been recalled as the corresponding movement. Before the official announcement, manager Matt Quatraro passed on the steps to reporters, including Anne Rogers from MLB.com.
Lugo was initially planned to start the game of Thursday, but the Royals announced on Wednesday that he would no longer start that match due to a low tightness. Noah Cameron takes the ball instead. Lugo could have been an option for Saturday’s game, but he felt no improvement while playing catch Thursday, so he goes on the il.
It is an unhappy and poorly timed loss for the royals. They are 2.5 games back from a play -off place with a few weeks left in the season. They still live, but they need a lot to go well to catch both the Rangers and the Mariners and to secure a place after the season.
Losing Lugo will not help because he has been an important part of the club’s rotation since the beginning of last year. He and the royals have recently agreed A new contract extension To prevent him from unsubscribing from his deal at the end of the season. Although he has generally been good this year, the back problem may have been bothering him lately. During his start on 3 August he had a earned running average of 3.06 of the year. During his last five starts, he allowed 25 points earned in 22 innings.
Whether the back had anything to do with that recent rough piece or not, he will take the time to try to get right. His IL placement is retroactively until 1 September, so that he could be back in just 12 days if he feels better. That could give him the chance to start a few more, although that will naturally depend on his progress in the coming weeks.
For now, Kolek will apparently take his place, at least for one turn. Acquired as part of the Freddy Fermin trade on the deadline, Kolek has been mainly in the minors since that deal. He made his Royals debut on Saturday and threw six innings with only one point over the album. Then he was sent back because it just started to be a place. However, his decent results and Lugo’s injury will get him at least one. He is eligible to return less than 15 days after his reservation, because Lugo goes on the IL.
Kolek had been a reliever in the seasons from 2022 to 2024 in the first place, but was stretched here again in 2025. Between the Padres and Royals he made 15 starts with a 3.99 ERA. His strike output of 16.5% is insufficient, but his running speed of 7.3% and 51.9% ground ball percentage are both strong figures. His Triple-A production is similar under the hood. He made 11 start with a strike output of 18.6%, 6.8% running speed and 54.1% ground ball percentage. However, a stroke average of .400 on balls in the game helped its era to 6.26 at that level.
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