Brian Bannister left Wednesday’s game against the Athletics after 1 1/3 innings due to shoulder fatigue.

“It’s soreness in my back and shoulder,” he said. “I’ve just been fighting through it. It’s not a sharp pain, so I don’t think it’s anything serious. But it’s really hard to go out there when I know I don’t have my best stuff.”

Bannister said the problem surfaced after he pitched seven scoreless innings Aug. 2 in a 4-1 victory at Tampa Bay.

“It’s progressively gotten worse,” he said. “It’s affected my stuff over the last month. I’ve still been able to give this team innings, but today it really affected my ability to get the ball down in the strike zone.”

I’m sorry, the Royals were well out of it at the beginning of August. Why didn’t they shut him down for two weeks? Are they so deep in starting pitchers that they can keep trotting out someone who has a minor injury? They have a way of turning into major ones.