ARLINGTON, Texas — Detroit Tigers right-hander Kenta Maeda massaged his right side and grimaced after throwing his second pitch in the first inning of Wednesday's start against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.

He exited with right side abdominal discomfort.

"It was unfortunate that I only threw two pitches and felt discomfort in this rib area," Maeda said in Japanese, interpreted by Dai Sekizaki. "I felt the tightness after the first pitch."

For now, the severity of the injury is unknown.

"I'm hoping it's not that severe," Maeda said.

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Manager A.J. Hinch and athletic trainer Ryne Eubanks, accompanied by Sekizaki, visited Maeda on the mound after he threw his second pitch to Rangers leadoff hitter Marcus Semien, a slider for a ball outside of the strike zone.

Maeda threw a couple of warmup pitches under the close watch of Hinch and Eubanks.

"He was very easy in those, which actually gave us more concern," Hinch said after Wednesday's 9-1 loss. "He didn't even let it go like he was testing it all that much, so I took the ball from him."

Maeda wanted to stay in the game after a conversation with Hinch and Eubanks, so much so that Hinch had to take the ball out of Maeda's glove.

"I wanted to stay in the game," Maeda said, "but he didn't want to risk aggravating more of the area, so they decided for me to get out of the game early."

The Tigers removed Maeda from the game and replaced him with left-handed reliever Joey Wentz.

"He just was disappointed," Hinch said. "He said sorry, which he doesn't need to. He gave us everything he could. It's a fluke injury. He was disappointed. The reality set in when I got my hand out that he's coming out of the game."

Maeda will undergo further testing Thursday in Detroit.

"We'll see where it takes us," Hinch said.

With two pitches, Maeda turned in the shortest start in Tigers history, ahead of three pitchers who threw just five pitches: Bill Gullickson in 1991, Aníbal Sánchez in 2017 and Michael Fulmer in 2018.

Maeda, whom the Tigers signed to a two-year, $24 million contract in November 2023, has a 6.25 ERA with 12 walks and 30 strikeouts across 40⅓ innings in 10 starts this season. The 36-year-old already missed two starts in May because of a viral illness, forcing him to the injured list.

Hinch evaluated Maeda's performance in 2024 before Wednesday's game.

"My evaluation of Kenta has been he's trying to find all of his pitches on the same day against the same opponent," Hinch said. "He's had a really hard time finding his slider, which is a little uncommon for him. When he pitches ahead, meaning getting strike one, he's usually been pretty good. When he's falling behind, he tends to have to dance around the strike zone and try to get soft contact. When he puts it all together, he's had pretty good outings. He had a couple games in a row where he was pretty good. Pitch execution has not been his best, and that's caused some of these sporadic outings. With guys like Kenta, he's one start away from finding it and rattling off a number of starts in a row."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Kenta Maeda leaves with injury after two pitches