Minnesota Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez departed Tuesday night's game against the Athletics because of tightness in his pitching shoulder.
Lopez was warming up for the bottom of the sixth inning in West Sacramento, Calif., and after his third toss, he motioned to the dugout. He left after a brief conversation with a trainer and manager Rocco Baldelli.
"It looks like it's a lat strain, but it's preliminary at this point," Baldelli said. "It's safe to say it's a likely IL (situation), but we have a lot more to learn over the next couple of days. And that's where we're going to leave it right now. He's going to get checked out."
Lopez said he first felt soreness in the bottom of the fifth inning.
"I tried to stay loose -- we had a long inning," he said. "Then I went out there and made my three warmup pitches low-to-mid intensity, and I felt the same thing. If it felt that way, then if I try to make a max-effort throw to get the inning started, you wonder what could happen."
Lopez (5-3) still came away with the victory as the Twins won 10-3. He gave up two runs and four hits over five innings while striking out four and walking three.
The 29-year-old Venezuela native made his 11th start of the season. His ERA slightly rose to 2.82.
Lopez is in his eighth major league season, his third with the Twins. He was an All-Star in 2023 and won a career-high 15 games last season.
