Michael Soroka left Friday’s game before the second inning and did not return after an injury concern forced the Diamondbacks to turn to Taylor Clarke almost immediately. Soroka had already worked one inning against the Minnesota Twins on June 19 before the stop-start night turned into an early exit.
The move came after he could not finish his warmup routine. Soroka threw a warmup pitch in the top of the second, then waved for the trainer and walked to the dugout. He was unable to get even a pitch or two out in the inning, and no reason had been given yet for why he had to leave.
What made the exit stand out was how little work had been done before the change. Soroka threw nine pitches, six for strikes, and allowed two hits before coming out. For the Diamondbacks, that meant losing a starter almost as soon as the game settled in, a problem made sharper because the removal happened before the start of the second inning.
There was also a sharp contrast between the injury pause and what Soroka had been delivering on the mound. He had been pitching well, and Stan Son wrote that he had been fantastic with a 2.93 FIP while allowing only six home runs in 81 innings. That form made the timing of Friday’s exit even harder to read, because the night ended before anyone could say whether the issue was minor or something that would keep him out longer.
For now, the only confirmed next step is waiting for a reason. Soroka’s outing stopped at one inning, and the unanswered question is not whether he left early — he did — but what exactly sent him from the mound to the dugout with a trainer.
