Rangers starter Max Scherzer was forced to leave Game 3 of the World Series after pitching three scoreless innings due to what the club described as back tightness.
Jon Gray, who was a candidate to start for Texas in Game 4, was called on in relief of Scherzer and pitched three scoreless innings to preserve the Rangers' 3-0 lead.
After the game, Scherzer said he was dealing with a back spasm.
"I'm in full spasm," told reporters. It locked up pretty good."
Scherzer indicated that he hopes to pitch again in the series, but he won't know the extent of the injury for a couple of days. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Scherzer will get an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.
"He took a pretty good shot on the elbow. That's what we were concerned about, but it was his low back that tightened up on him. He just couldn't go anymore. We'll see where he's at in the next 24 hours."
Fox TV's broadcast of the game showed the right-hander grimacing as he walked up the steps out of the dugout to prepare for the fourth inning. Scherzer eventually made it to the mound and attempted to throw some warmup pitches before walking gingerly off of the field alongside Rangers trainer Matt Lucero.
According to Fox sideline reporter Ken Rosenthal, the Rangers weren't sure if Scherzer suffered some sort of injury after he was hit in the elbow by a comebacker off of the bat of Alek Thomas, which ricocheted off of Scherzer's back over to third baseman Josh Jung, who threw narrowly threw Thomas out at first.
Scherzer allowed two hits and struck out one in his three innings of work.