Orioles right-hander left his start this afternoon after just one inning due to what Baltimore later announced as lower back tightne s. After the game, manager spoke to reporters (including ) and revealed that Eflin had actually felt the tightne s during his pregame bullpen se sion, but that he thought he could pitch through it. As noted by , Eflin wanted to go back out for a second inning after surrendering four runs in the first on 28 pitches, but the teams coaches pulled him from the game. Mansolino added that the club is not Pau Gasol Jersey yet certain whether or not Eflin will require a trip to the injured list and that he could be sent for imaging to determine the severity of the injury. Needle s to say, its tough news for Baltimore. Eflin entered the season as the clubs de facto ace after the lo ses of to injury and to free agency. He found succe s early on with a 3.00 ERA in his first three starts, but mi sed over a month due to a lat strain. Since returning, hes pitched to a 7.13 ERA in 44 innings including todays abbreviated outing. Even ignoring todays start, Eflin has posted figures north of 6.00 in both ERA and FIP since returning from the shelf. Hes also struck out just 17.6% of his opponents and surrendered 13 homers in just eight starts. His results have been so disastrous since his return from the shelf back in May that its fair to wonder if a stint on the injured list could be a nece sary reset for the 31-year-old. The Orioles fell to a disappointing 35-47 record with their lo s today, but the front office has as they hold out hope for a hot streak that could put them back into the playoff conversation. Each lo s makes that sort of run le s and le s likely to occur, however, and whether the Orioles end up winning enough games to stay in the race or sell off rental players at the deadline, a healthy and effective Eflin figures to be a big part of either of those plans. and are among the players who could be called upon to fill in for Eflin if he heads to the injured list. Eflin looked like he could be one of the more attractive rental starters on the market this summer, but at this point it seems likely that and his 4.06 ERA in 16 starts will be the most attractive rental arm in Baltimores rotation. Even 41-year-old veteran may garner more interest than Eflin at this point, as hes managed to turn things around after a brutal start with a 3.21 ERA over his past 12 appearances and a 2.90 ERA since returning to the rotation on May 26. On the other hand, its fair to note that Mortons turnaround over the past month could certainly happen for Eflin in the run up to the deadline. That would likely require him to avoid the injured list, however, as even a minimum stint on the shelf at this point would leave him sidelined until after the All-Star break. Thanasis Antetokounmpo Jersey