Royals' Cole Ragans Offers 3-Word Response to Long-Awaited Injury Return
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The Kansas City Royals sure did miss Cole Ragans.
Since he'd arrived in a deadline trade with the Texas Rangers in 2023, Ragans was the most impactful pitcher on the Royals' roster for nearly two years. But when he was lost to a rotator cuff strain in June, his absence was felt up and down the pitching staff.
It was probably too late to matter in terms of the playoff picture, but the Royals welcomed Ragans back in a 7-5 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night.
Ragans happy to be back after long absence
Though it was pre-determined that Ragans would not pitch deep into the evening, he gave the Royals 3 2/3 solid innings against a potent Seattle lineup, tallying four strikeouts and allowing two runs on a home run by Eugenio Suárez.
After his team pulled out a four-run rally in the bottom of the eighth to secure a win, Ragans sounded off on returning to a big-league mound after his three-month layoff.
“Obviously, adrenaline pumping,” Ragans said, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. “I felt good. Just tried to attack. … It’s fun. I love competing with these guys, being on the field with these guys and trying to help this team win.”
The 76-76 Royals have less than a 0.1% chance of making the playoffs, per Fangraphs, but manager Matt Quatraro believes Ragans' return at the end of the regular season could make a big difference for the 27-year-old at the start of next year.
“No question about it,” Quatraro said, per Rogers. “The mental part of knowing he can go back out there and get big league hitters out, the understanding that, in all likelihood, somebody’s going to get on base and you can ramp it up and execute a pitch with two outs to get out of an inning -- all those things will carry him into the offseason.”
Kansas City plays 10 more games, so Ragans may be able to squeeze two more starts in before the long winter ahead.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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