Joakim Soria placed on the disabled list

The Royals have placed Joakim Soria on the 10-day disabled list with an oblique strain and have recalled pitcher Kevin McCarthy from Omaha. Soria had been battling the injury for awhile, admitted Ned Yost after Soria gave up four runs in Tuesday’s loss to Oakland.

“It really got sore last night and this morning,” Yost said. “This is something he’s been pitching through for, like I said, two weeks.”

The obvious follow-up question is, “why have you been using an injured pitcher?” Yost countered by arguing Soria has been pretty effective the last two weeks. However, Soria has given up a run in four of his last seven outings, including Tuesday’s four-run outburst.

In fairness, Soria hasn’t been quite as bad as it seems. He has been unlucky on batted balls, and pitching in high-leverage situations has heightened the perception that he has pitched poorly. Still, while blown saves are a bit of a misleading stat, only two pitchers in baseball have more blown saves than the seven times Soria has coughed up the lead, and only Santiago Casilla has more blown saves over the past two seasons than Soria’s 14.

Brandon Maurer is expected to take over eighth inning duties for the Royals, although he has had some issues since being acquired by the Royals, with eight runs in 8 1/3 innings with Kansas City. Right-hander Kevin McCarthy has a 1.88 ERA in 24 innings for the Royals this year, although he has just 11 strikeouts. Joakim Soria is in the second year of a three year, $25 million contract. In 116 ²⁄₃ innings over the last two seasons, he has a 4.01 ERA, although a 3.37 FIP.