Kansas City Royals left-hander Cole Ragans left Wednesday's start against the Cleveland Guardians with tricep and elbow soreness, the team announced.
Ragans exited after throwing 58 pitches and allowing one hit in three innings. He was replaced by Luinder Avila.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro said postgame he doesn't think Ragans' injury is serious, but more is to be determined.
"He just started having some tightness (or) soreness in the back of the elbow, triceps area," Quatraro said, according to David Smale of The Associated Press. "So (we were) just trying to be cautious and get him out of there.
"We'll get some more evaluations tomorrow and see what we have. We don't think it's serious. We're hopeful for the next start, and we'll just see where he is after we evaluate it tomorrow."
The 28-year-old pitcher is in the midst of a down year, entering action Wednesday with the highest ERA of his career (5.29) despite maintaining his normally high strikeout rate (11.4 K/9).
Ragans has a history of injuries, having had Tommy John surgery twice. He also missed time last season with a rotator cuff strain.
