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Rangers closer Jose Leclerc headed to 45-day IL with injury similar to Corey Kluber

After warming up in the eighth inning, Leclerc did not enter Wednesday's win over Arizona due to shoulder tightness.

The Rangers’ pitching staff has suffered its second devastating injury in less than a week’s worth of games. And the injuries are eerily similar.

The club announced Thursday that closer Jose Leclerc will be placed on the 45-day injured list after suffering a grade 2 strain of the teres major muscle in his right shoulder. Leclerc, 26, had started to warm up Wednesday in the eighth inning but could not continue because of tightness in the area.

The news comes only 72 hours after the team announced starter Corey Kluber, the team’s top offseason acquisition, would likely miss the remainder of the shortened season, also with a torn teres major muscle in his right shoulder. Kluber pitched one inning of his start Sunday before coming out of the game. General manager Jon Daniels acknowledged that the similarity of the injuries, along with a rash of early season pitching injuries around the majors, has teams discussing if the ramp-up to the shortened season could be a factor.

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“We’re definitely looking at it,” Daniels said. “We had a pretty decent conversation about it this morning about what we can do. It is what it is. All 30 teams are in the same spot. We thought we were pretty diligent about staying on top of our guys leading up to this. It’s not like they just started throwing and went zero-to-sixty on July 1 when we got here. They had been throwing for a while. You’re talking about guys like Corey Kluber and Leclerc that take good care of themselves. Looking around the league, there’s a ton of arm injuries early on. Regardless, we’ve got two key guys that are down. We need to take a closer look at that.”

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To replace Leclerc on the active roster, right-hander Jimmy Herget will be recalled from the alternate site taxi squad.

The Leclerc injury threatens the already fragile Rangers bullpen, which is lacking in experienced late-inning relievers. Daniels said manager Chris Woodward is still working through potential options to close games. The Rangers aren’t sure if they will use one pitcher or multiple guys in that role. Perhaps the most talented reliever in the bullpen is right-hander Jonathan Hernandez, 24.

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But he has only 12 games of major league experience. The Rangers viewed him as more valuable this season in a multi-inning role.

Joely Rodriguez and Rafael Montero, expected to be key late-inning relievers, are both on the injured list with arm issues. The Rangers feel Rodriguez, a left-hander, is closer to a return. He accompanied the team on the road trip to the Bay Area on Thursday and could be activated sometime during the weeklong trip. Rodriguez, however, has only 38 games of major league experience. He spent the last two seasons in Japan where he emerged as a power lefty. Montero is not expected to be activated until after the team returns from the road trip. He ended up as Leclerc’s primary setup man in the second half of 2019. He earned his first career save last season.

On Wednesday, right-hander Nick Goody pitched the final inning of the Rangers’ 7-4 win over Arizona to earn his first career save.

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Briefly: The Rangers swapped out backup first basemen, optioning Ronald Guzman to the taxi squad. He will be replaced by Greg Bird, who must be added to the 40-man roster. The Rangers will have to make another move to clear space on the 40-man roster. Daniels said the Rangers view the veteran Bird as a better bat at this point than Guzman, who could use a “reset.” ... The Rangers have also added RHPs Jason Bahr and RHP Ronny Henriquez to the taxi squad. Both are prospects who aren’t really expected to pitch in the majors this year but need work in the event there is no development camp for minor leaguers whose season has been canceled.

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