Royals reliever Brian Flynn to miss pitching time in Omaha because of muscle injury

The vaunted bullpen depth of the Royals experienced a blow on Thursday night when lefty reliever Brian Flynn injured his latissimusi dorsi muscle and left an outing early for Class AAA Omaha.

The team had yet to discern a final diagnosis on Flynn, but assistant general manager J.J. Picollo indicated Flynn would miss time.

The Royals acquired Flynn, 24, in a trade with Miami over the winter. He nearly made the club out of spring training after posting a 2.40 ERA in 12 appearances.

Kansas City instead went with Ryan Madson, fearing another club would offer Madson a major-league deal. So the team optioned Flynn to Omaha.

Luke Hochevar debuted for the Storm Chasers on Thursday. He gave up two hits and struck out one in a scoreless inning.

“He got through it good last night,” manager Ned Yost said.

Hochevar will not pitch on back-to-back days for Omaha, the Royals have decided. Pitching coach Dave Eiland charted out a schedule for Hochevar to throw multi-inning stints with one day of rest in between later this month. The Royals do not want to use Hochevar on back-to-back days until the middle of June, Yost said.

This story was originally published April 10, 2015 at 7:57 PM.