Injury Update: Angels’ Garrett Richards is out for the season (video)

5:00 pm ET:

Well the verdict is in from the doctors in Los Angeles. An MRI revealed that Angels’ ace Garrett Richards has torn the patella tendon in his left knee. The injury will put an end to his stellar season.

The 26-year old right-hander may even be out of part of spring training. He is scheduled to have surgery next week and the recovery process for an injury of this magnitude is six to nine months, meaning he’d be ready at the earliest in late January.

Depending upon how careful the Angels want to be with him, and I assuming they would want to be considering how well he has pitched this season, his return to baseball could be as late as April.

Richards finishes his breakout 2014 season with a record of 13-4 and a 2.61 ERA.

August 21, 2014, 8:30 am ET:

As of midnight Eastern Time last night all Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia would say when asked specific questions regarding Richards’ injury was that it was a “serious” injury. At least that was the term he used most often while talking to the press post game.

The Angels 8-3 win over the Red Sox was a bittersweet one. When asked if it was safe to assume that Richards would be out for the remainder of the season all Scioscia said was,

"“I’m not going to assume anything, but it’s a significant injury.”"

Quotes from the 26-year old right hander’s teammate Jered Weaver did not make the Richard’s odds of returning look good.

Weaver said he heard Richards’ scream from inside the the dugout.

"“It doesn’t look too good for him,” Weaver said. “He’s been our guy all year. He’s been that guy you count on to get deep in games and pull out a victory. To have something like that happen is obviously a crushing blow to any team. Our thoughts and prayers are with him, and hopefully it doesn’t turn out as bad as everyone thinks it is.”"

It doesn’t help that the team has already lost starter 23-year old starter Tyler Skaggs to Tommy John surgery. He is not supposed to return until the 2016 season. With little minor league pitching depth it’s unlikely that the team will use someone from Triple-A.

So it seems that the team’s’ four remaining starters Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Hector Santiago and Matt Shoemaker will have to carry the workload for the rest of the season.

It’s not an ideal situation but it’s not unheard of. There is a little over a month left to play in the season and in the post season most teams drop to a four man starting rotation anyway. Plus, there’s always the chance that Richards’ injury isn’t as bad as it appears.

Leading A.L. MVP candidate Mike Trout said,

"“Until we get the results, I can’t really say much, but it doesn’t look good.”"

For now all the Angels and their fans can do it wait and see what happens.

August 20, 2014, 11:30 pm ET:

Angels have not announced any more information on what may be wrong with Richards’ knee. They have said that he will be flown back to Los Angeles where he will be re-examined. Look for more information here on Call to the Pen tomorrow.

Original Text:

Approximately 8:00 pm ET: Los Angeles Angels’ ace Garrett Richards suffered what appears to be a serious knee injury on Wednesday night against the Boston Red Sox. Richards was running to cover first base on a ground ball off the right side of the bat of Boston’s Brock Holt when it seems he caught his right cleat and fell while trying to look to see if the throw was coming from shortstop Erick Aybar.

It appeared to be his left knee that was injured. Richards was eventually carted off of the playing field, which is not a good sign for the Angels as he has been one of baseball’s best pitchers this season. So far all that is known is what has been released on Twitter by the Angels.

No official announcement has been made on the status of Richards. Upon entering Wednesday night’s game Richards had record of 13-4, a 2.53 ERA, 164 strikeouts and 50 walks in 167 innings.

Here’s the video of the incident. This post will be updated as information becomes available so check back for updates.