MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota's Ricky Nolasco left his start in the second inning against Toronto on Sunday with a sore right ankle.
The team said Nolasco, who started the day 5-1 with a 5.12 ERA, would undergo an MRI in the next day or so.
Nolasco had just started pitching to Russell Martin to lead off the inning before coming up awkwardly on the mound.
Manager Paul Molitor and trainer Tony Leo visited the mound, and Nolasco stayed in the game after throwing a few warm-up pitches. But Molitor pulled him for reliever J.R. Graham after he allowed back-to-back singles to Martin and Chris Colabello.
"He just said, 'I don't know if I can go,' " catcher Kurt Suzuki said Nolasco told Molitor during their final conference on the mound.
"You don't want a guy to get hurt, and a guy who's been pitching well who's been winning games for us," Molitor said.
Nolasco threw just 28 pitches. His five-game winning streak in May was his longest with Minnesota, and longest since winning seven straight from Aug. 1 to Sept. 9 in 2013 with the Dodgers.
The Twins (30-19) went on to beat the Blue Jays 6-5 to wrap up a 20-7 May for the team's first 20-win month since June 1991.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
