Cole

Ragans

Ragans and Carlos Rodón both seemed to fade quickly tonight, but it resulted in only one run being charged to Ragans and that just because Bobby Witt Jr. couldn’t corral a hard shot to short. The left-hander wound up striking out five and walking four while throwing 87 pitches to get his 12 outs. He’ll be expected to start again if there’s a Game 5 on Saturday.

Ragans had allowed only four hits in six shutout innings while striking out eight batters. It seemed puzzling that the Royals would take him out after 80 pitches, but the club announced shortly after that Ragans had calf cramps.

They’ll be facing the Astros unless they win and the Tigers lose today, in which case they’d instead travel to Baltimore as the No. 5 seed. Ragans was originally scheduled to start today, but there’s no need for that with a spot clinched. Lugo threw just two innings Saturday to keep himself in line for the Game 2 start.

Ragans’ strong September continued on Tuesday night against the Nationals. The lefty has allowed just three earned runs over 25 innings pitched and didn’t surrender a run against the Nationals. Ragans scattered three hits across his six innings of work and never allowed more than two baserunners in an inning. Ragans lowered his ERA on the season to 3.14 and will close out the Royals’ regular season on Sunday against the Braves.

With six strikeouts and four walks, Ragans wasn’t at his absolute best tonight. Still, the results were there. It’s kind of odd that he matched his season high in both walks and innings pitched; it’s the fourth time he walked four and the sixth time he’s completed seven innings. Ragans will likely make just one more regular-season start Tuesday against the Nationals, though the Royals could bring him back for the finale if necessary.

Ragans gave up three hits, walked two and struck out seven. The only runs that came across against Ragans came on a two-run home run by Juan Soto. Can’t blame him there. Ragans has had a stellar year for Kansas City. He’s 11-9 with a 3.32 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 211 strikeouts in 173 1/3 innings. The 26-year-old left-hander is set to face the Tigers at home next week.

Ragans tonight became the fifth Royals pitcher to strike out 200 batters in a season, joining Dennis Leonard (244 in 1977), Zack Greinke (242 in 2009), Kevin Appier (207 in 19996) and Bob Johnson (206 in 1970). The win makes him 11-9 with a 3.33 ERA ahead of a start against the Yankees next week.

Ragans struck out 10 and walked just two on the day and had been electric until the sixth inning. Heading into the bottom of the sixth, the game was tied 0-0 and Ragans had allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out 10. He started the inning with a single, a hit by pitch, a walk, another single, and then a triple that chased him from the game without recording an out in the inning. The final run would come in to score on a wild pitch by the reliever, and what was a fantastic outing became a poor one in the blink of an eye. Ragans will now take a 3.46 ERA in a start against the Twins next week.

Ragans is expected to make his next start Saturday against the Astros.

There was some concern when the left-hander was lifted from the game after allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits in four innings, but it appears the worst has been avoided. Ragans did struggle with his command in the start, walking four batters and throwing 94 pitches through those four innings, but it’s likely he was battling through the calf/hamstring cramping before having to be removed from the game. We’ll await word from the Royals in the next few days but wouldn’t expect him to miss a start.