The Royals have placed right-hander Michael Lorenzen on the 15-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring, per a team announcement. Righty Steven Cruz has been recalled from Triple-A Omaha in his place. Lorenzen sustained the injury yesterday when covering first base on a grounder.
Acquired in a deadline swap that sent lefty reliever Walter Pennington to the Rangers, Lorenzen has been a boon to the Kansas City rotation. In five starts, he’s pitched 24 1/3 innings of 1.85 ERA ball, striking out 17% of his opponents against a 10% walk rate. Metrics like FIP (4.20) and SIERA (5.11) aren’t nearly as bullish, given the righty’s pedestrian strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates.
Even if Lorenzen can’t be reasonably expected to continue producing a sub-2.00 ERA, the results thus far have been an unequivocal jolt for a team that had been struggling to get production from fifth starter Alec Marsh. Kansas City has won each of Lorenzen’s last three starts, and there’s little blame to be placed on him for the team’s loss in his Royals debut; he tossed 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball in a game the Royals eventually lost by a score of 6-5.
The Royals didn’t provide a timetable for Lorenzen’s return, but he’ll be down for at least two weeks. The aforementioned Marsh is the likeliest candidate to step back into the rotation in his stead. In 20 starts this season (plus one relief appearance), the 26-year-old Marsh has tossed 106 innings with a 4.67 earned run average. His 21.3% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate are both better than Lorenzen’s season-long marks between Texas and Kansas City, but Marsh also faded significantly following a strong start to the season. Over his past eight trips to the mound, he’s been rocked for a 6.46 ERA and surrendered seven homers in 39 innings (1.62 HR/9).
More to come.
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