Cole Ragans exits early as Royals beat Rockies in doubleheader opener

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on Apr 24, 2025

Published in Baseball

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Royals ace Cole Ragans exited early during Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies.

Ragans, who drew the matinee start, pitched three innings at Kauffman Stadium. He allowed four runs, including two homers, on 62 pitches. Additionally, Ragans walked two batters. He registered four strikeouts before departing.

The Royals won Thursday’s opening game, 7-4. The club later announced Ragans was pulled for left groin tightness.

“That’s all we know right now,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He had trouble getting loose today. It started to loosen up a little bit in the second. Thought a little bit more in the third. But as he was sitting there between the third and the fourth, it tightened up on him again.”

Ragans will get further testing. He wasn’t present for interviews after Game 1 due to getting treatment from the Royals training staff.

“I did not talk to him yet,” Quatraro said. “But I would assume if he is not comfortable pushing off, you’re going to cut some stuff off. Which makes sense as most of those misses were low on off-speed pitches.”

The Royals turned to left-handed reliever Angel Zerpa out of the bullpen. He came in to pitch the fourth inning with the score tied 4-4.

This season, Ragans owns a 4.40 ERA. He home runs to Rockies outfielder Jordan Beck and catcher Hunter Goodman in Thursday’s Game 1.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez noticed Ragans was uncomfortable in the bullpen. He checked on him throughout the start and helped navigate him through the early innings.

“After the first inning, I saw something weird,” Perez said. “His fastball was not kind of sharp today. The off-speed was kind of everywhere. I asked him if he was OK and if he was good. He told me yes, so I have to believe him. I think after the third inning, he felt something in his groin.”

The Royals also defeated the Rockies in Tuesday’s series opener. Ragans drew the Game 1 start with teammate Michael Lorenzen pitching in Game 2 of the traditional doubleheader.

Ragans, who finished top-5 in Cy Young voting last year, only completed four innings in his last start, when he was charged with five earned runs against the Detroit Tigers on April 18.

“We got his back today,” Perez said. “Every time he pitches, I feel like we are going to win. (There’s going to be) a day like today where you are not going to feel 100 percent. He is going to try to see what he can give to the team. But we’ve got to take care of him, too, and that’s what we did today.”