Angels' Richards exits with hamstring tightness
Los Angeles Angels right-hander Garrett Richards exited Wednesday's start against the Seattle Mariners after tossing just 35 pitches over two innings due to left hamstring tightness, the club announced.
Lifted for Noe Ramirez in the bottom of the third, Richards allowed a pair of runs on four hits while notching two strikeouts in what was his shortest start since April 28, when he served up a season-high nine runs (five earned) over 1 2/3 innings against the New York Yankees.
His velocity was noticeably down, too, with the 30-year-old's four-seam fastball averaging 94.6 miles per hour, nearly two full ticks below his season average (96.5), according to Brooks Baseball.
Richards has now failed to make it through the third inning in two of his last four outings.
Richards, who managed a 3.26 ERA across his first 13 starts in 2018, missed most of the previous two seasons due to injury, landing on the disabled list just six starts into the 2016 campaign because of a torn ulnar collateral ligament and making just a half-dozen starts last year due to biceps nerve irritation.