Michael Lorenzen injury: Royals pitcher sent to IL with hamstring strain, while KC moves into first place

The Kansas City Royals placed veteran right-hander Michael Lorenzen on the injured list Wednesday with a strained left hamstring. Lorenzen suffered the injury during the second inning of his start Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians. In a similar move, the Royals recalled right-hander Steven Cruz from Triple-A Omaha.

Lorenzen, 32, joined the Royals in a deadline trade with the Texas Rangers. He has performed well so far, compiling a 1.85 ERA (238 ERA+) and 1.70 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his first five starts with Kansas City. This year, he now has a 3.43 ERA (117 ERA+) and 1.59 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 126 total innings. According to Baseball Reference, his contribution is estimated to be equivalent to 2.5 Wins Above Replacement.

Lorenzen’s absence comes at a bad time for the Royals in several ways.

The Royals enter Wednesday’s series finale against the Guardians atop the American League Central. While Lorenzen may not have played a direct role in Wednesday’s game, exiting so early on Tuesday forced manager Matt Quattro to use more relievers than he would have liked and could have some implications for Wednesday’s contest. Furthermore, Lorenzen’s placement on the injured list also means he will miss his next game – which is scheduled for this weekend against the Houston Astros. Whether and/or how much those aspects matter in the AL Central race remains to be determined. We think it’s fair to write that this isn’t ideal at all.

It’s not yet clear who the Royals will insert into Lorenzen’s rotation spot. One obvious candidate is Alec Marsh, who made a spot-start as part of a doubleheader against the Guardians on Monday. Because Marsh was designated as the Royals’ 27th player, he is not subject to the same mandatory assignment length rules that typically apply to optioned players.