Ryan’s Streak of Starts Ends at 125 Tonight

The Texas Rangers placed pitcher Nolan Ryan, nursing a sore back, on the 15-day disabled list Monday retroactive to May 18. Ryan, 43, had made 125 consecutive starts, but that streak will end tonight when Bobby Witt is scheduled to start in his place against the Boston Red Sox.

The Rangers said that Ryan had been examined twice by Dr. Ronald Slaughter at Clear Lake, Tex. Slaughter diagnosed the problem as a muscle spasm causing irritation to a ligament between the first and second vertebrae on the right side of the lower back.

It is Ryan’s ninth assignment to the disabled list in 23 seasons. Ryan, baseball’s career strikeout leader, is 4-2 with a 5.28 earned-run average in eight starts.