Cole Ragans is pivotal to what the Kansas City Royals hope to accomplish this season.

On Wednesday in Cleveland, though, the news wasn’t good, as Ragans lasted just five hitters before an injury ended his game.

The injury didn’t occur on his last pitch, though. Ragans tried to power through.

In the end, though, Luinder Avila was coming out of the bullpen, and Ragans’ day was done early.

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What happened to Cole Ragans?

Ragans was injured on a line drive right back at him.

With two outs in the bottom of the first (both strikeouts), Jose Ramirez roped a ball directly at Ragans. It hit Ragans on his left thumb, on his throwing hand.

Ramirez beat it out off the deflection, and the trainer came to check on Ragans. He threw a few practice pitches and stayed in the game.

But his next four pitches were out of the strike zone to walk David Fry.

After one more ball, Ragans allowed a two-run double to Chase DeLauter.

At that point, the Royals pulled Ragans. His fastball velocity was down, and his location was all out of whack.

He ended up being charged with the DeLauter run, too, as Rhys Hoskins doubled as the first batter Avila faced.

The Royals will hope for the best, but on Wednesday, things certainly got a lot more difficult.

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