Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano pulled from MLB All-Star Game with injury

Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano's first MLB All-Star appearance could've gone better.

Romano, who was on the American League roster for last year's Midsummer Classic but didn't get into the game, entered Tuesday's contest with the AL holding a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh — retiring one batter before he was removed following just his fifth pitch of the outing.

AL manager Dusty Baker told sideline reporter Ken Rosenthal that Romano felt "tightness in his lower back" on his final bullpen throw. The power closer entered the game anyways, throwing just a few times before trainers came out to examine the 30-year-old.

Romano, who leads the AL with 26 saves this season, got Will Smith on a flyout. Ex-teammate Lourdes Gurriel Jr. — who's having a monster year with the Diamondbacks after he was traded to Arizona as part of the Daulton Varsho deal — followed with a deep fly ball that was initially called a homer by umpire Ryan Blakney before it was reversed by replay umpire Jim Wolf in a video review to cap a weird sequence involving a pair of former mates.

It appeared to be on that swing that Romano tweaked something, but Baker revealed during an interview moments later that Romano was actually already dealing with an issue before coming into the game.

"He threw his last pitch in the bullpen before he went out there, he just felt a little tightness in his lower back, and we got to take every precaution to take care of these players," Baker said.

"We hope that it's nothing."

Romano, who was a late addition to this year's game, has a 2.87 ERA and 48 strikeouts over 37.2 innings to go with those 26 saves, which are tied for the most in MLB.

There have been no further updates provided as of this writing.