DeGrom exits start for Rangers with sore wrist

Texas Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom was removed from his start Monday night against the Royals in Kansas City because of right wrist soreness.

The team called the move precautionary and said deGrom will continue to be evaluated.

DeGrom had spun four hitless innings before departing, striking out five and walking one while throwing 39 of his 58 pitches for strikes. Dane Dunning replaced him, picking up the win after throwing 4⅓ innings of one-hit ball in Texas’ 4-0 victory.

“I felt it a little bit warming up,” deGrom said. “I thought it was going to loosen up and it actually tightened up a little bit as the game went on.

“We’re playing it smart. Could I have kept going? Probably. But it was lingering and it got a little bit worse as the game went on. I just want to play it safe. We’ve got a long season ahead of us.”

DeGrom is 1-0 with a 3.48 ERA this season.

“I’m honestly not too concerned,” deGrom said. “I would like to think I’ll make my next [start], but we’ll see how it is tomorrow.”

DeGrom signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers this offseason after a decorated tenure with the Mets. Injuries, though, have been a problem for the 34-year-old. He missed the first four months of last season with a stress reaction in his shoulder, and injuries had limited him to 224⅓ innings over the past three seasons entering 2023.

He also had a minor setback at the start of the spring after feeling some tightness on his left side.

Texas manager Bruce Bochy said there’s concern any time you have to take a player out of a game because of injury, but he’s optimistic.

“We’ll reevaluate him tomorrow,” Bochy said. “Any time you take somebody out, that’s a fair question. I think I can answer it better tomorrow. Right now, I feel pretty good about it.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.