Rays' McClanahan 'frustrated' by early exit due to back tightness

Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan left Thursday's start against the Kansas City Royals after training staff checked on him during the fourth inning.

The team described the injury as mid-back tightness, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

"I'm pretty frustrated that I had to come out of the game," the southpaw said, adding that he felt like he could've kept going.

"I don't want to speculate," McClanahan added when asked about the severity of the injury. "It's still pretty early, but the leading notion is that we don't think it's anything severe and maybe more of a precautionary move just to maybe limit whatever it is. Hopefully, I'm not missing any starts and we get this thing hammered out in a couple days."

Manager Kevin Cash noted that McClanahan began experiencing back tightness prior to Thursday's start.

The 2022 All-Star, considered an early contender for the Cy Young Award, seemed to give a spirited argument for staying in. Kevin Kelly replaced the left-hander.

McClanahan entered Thursday's contest with an MLB-leading 2.12 ERA and 11 wins. He wound up allowing two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out three over 3 2/3 innings against the AL Central bottom-feeders.