Soroka, Lawlar to undergo MRIs after early exits in Diamondbacks' win

What happened

Arizona's 9-5 win over Minnesota on Friday came with a pair of injury asterisks attached. Starter Michael Soroka was pulled after just one inning after feeling discomfort in his left glute muscle while warming up to begin the second. Later in the game, outfielder Jordan Lawlar was lifted for a pinch-runner in the eighth inning after picking up a right hamstring strain while sprinting to first base to beat out a bunt single. Per MLB.com's Steve Gilbert and other reporters who spoke with both players after the game, Soroka and Lawlar each expressed hope that their respective injuries were not serious. Soroka described the sensation as a "grab," while Lawlar characterized it as "just a little tightness." Both players were scheduled to undergo MRIs to determine the extent of the damage.

The win itself was not in question. The Diamondbacks handled the Twins comfortably. The health of the two men who helped produce it, however, is very much still an open question.

Why it matters

Soroka's situation carries particular weight for Arizona's rotation. He was pulled before completing even two innings of work, which means the bullpen absorbed the bulk of a nine-inning game — not an ideal outcome regardless of the final score. The nature of a glute issue for a pitcher is worth monitoring closely: the glute is part of the kinetic chain that drives a pitcher's delivery, and even a minor strain can affect mechanics and command. None of that is a diagnosis, and Soroka himself was cautiously optimistic per MLB.com's reporting. But the MRI result will tell the real story, and until it does, his next start is genuinely uncertain.

Lawlar's injury has a different operational texture. A hamstring strain suffered while running to first base — the kind of all-out sprint that is simply part of playing the game — is the sort of thing that can range from a brief absence to a stint on the injured list depending on what imaging reveals. The fact that he needed a pinch-runner immediately suggests the training staff was not taking chances, which is the right call and also not particularly reassuring.

The timing matters for a club that was already managing a crowded injured list before Friday night.

Where the club stands

Arizona enters the weekend at 86-76 (.531), sitting third in the NL West and 14 games back in the division. The Diamondbacks are also eliminated from the Wild Card race, sitting fourth in that ranking at 2.0 games relative to the cut line, and have dropped their last two games heading into Saturday.

Those standings provide important context for how the club weighs every roster decision from here. With the postseason no longer in play, the calculus around pushing injured players back onto the field shifts — there is less urgency to rush anyone, and more reason to let MRI results and medical staff guidance drive the timeline rather than the standings.

The upcoming schedule keeps the Twins in town: Zac Gallen is the probable starter for Saturday against Taj Bradley, and Jose Cabrera is lined up for Sunday against Mike Paredes. The series concludes before Arizona travels to Busch Stadium on Monday, where Merrill Kelly is the probable against Andre Pallante. None of those rotation slots involve Soroka directly in the immediate term, but his status beyond the weekend will depend entirely on what the MRI shows. The same is true for Lawlar's availability in the outfield.

Is Soroka starting again this weekend?

He is not among the probable pitchers listed for Saturday or Sunday against Minnesota. Whether he is available at all in the near term is contingent on MRI results that had not yet been reported at the time of MLB.com's coverage. Soroka's own characterization of the issue as a "grab" rather than something more acute is the most optimistic signal available, but a one-inning exit is a one-inning exit, and the imaging will determine what comes next.

What we don't know yet

The MRI results for both Soroka and Lawlar had not been reported at the time of MLB.com's coverage. Until those results are available, the severity of Soroka's left glute issue and Lawlar's right hamstring strain remains unresolved. Neither player's timeline — whether that means a day off, a trip to the injured list, or something else entirely — has been reported.

What is known is that Arizona already had nine players on its injured list heading into the weekend, per MLB Trade Rumors, with Ryne Nelson having been placed on the 15-day IL the day before Friday's game. The roster depth question is not hypothetical. It is already being answered in real time, and two more MRI results are about to add to the math.

Under general league rules, position players are eligible for the 10-day injured list while pitchers and two-way players are subject to a 15-day minimum. Whether either Soroka or Lawlar ends up on the IL — and under which designation — will depend on what the imaging shows and how the club chooses to respond. None of that has been reported yet.

What to watch

The MRI results for both players are the immediate priority. Soroka's next scheduled start and Lawlar's availability in the outfield both hinge on those findings. Given that Arizona is already carrying nine players on the injured list per MLB Trade Rumors, any additional IL placement would require a corresponding roster move — the kind of quiet transaction that tends to happen before a Saturday afternoon first pitch and gets noticed about three hours later.

Gallen takes the mound Saturday against Bradley with the series still alive and the rotation question hanging in the background. The Diamondbacks won Friday. Whether they did so at a cost is the question that MRI machines will answer, not box scores.