Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo Lopez was unable to finish his start Tuesday night against the Kansas City Royals on the road after leaving the contest with an apparent lower-body injury in the fifth inning, according to Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star Tribune.

“Pablo López walks off the mound with trainer Nick Paparesta before facing Bobby Witt Jr. with two runners on base,” Nightengale shared in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Nightengale also noted that Lopez was grabbing the back of his right leg after throwing a pair of pitches.

Lopez was working a solid start before leaving the mound, as he allowed zero earned runs — with one unearned due to an error — on just three hits with six strikeouts through 4.2 innings. The Royals ended up winning the game, 2-1, with Kansas City first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino scoring the deciding run in the eighth inning off of  Minnesota reliever Minnesota Twins Griffin Jax, who took the pitching loss.

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Lopez's injury is another blow to the Twins' poor start to the 2025 MLB campaign. They have won just three of their first eight games and are now on the verge of getting swept in this three-leg series at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.  Minnesota started the season getting swept in a three-game series by the St. Louis Cardinals before going 2-1 in a set with the Chicago White Sox. Before the Royals series, the Twins lost two of three games versus the Houston Astros at home.

The severity of Lopez's injury remains uncertain at the time of this writing, but it could open up an opportunity for Zebby Matthews to be called up to the big leagues. In a minor league game on Tuesday, Matthews surrendered two runs and fanned out nine hitters in five innings of work on the mound for Triple-A St. Paul Saints (h/t Goerge Bissell of Rotoworld).

The 29-year-old Lopez's start against the Royals was his third this season. In his first two starts, he allowed three earned runs on 15 hits with just two walks and 14 strikeouts through 16.2 innings of mound duty. In 2025, Lopez went 15-10 with a 4.08 ERA and a 3.65 FIP across 32 starts (185.1 innings) with the Twins. It is also worth noting that Lopez has yet to miss a start since becoming a Twin in 2023 when he was traded to Minnesota by the Miami Marlins.