Royals’ Jason Vargas has torn elbow ligament

Kansas City Royals left-hander Jason Vargas has a torn ulnar ligament in his elbow and will need season-ending surgery.

The former Long Beach State Dirtbag started against Pittsburgh on Tuesday night but left after throwing only 26 pitches. He had an MRI exam Wednesday that revealed the extent of the injury.

“He’s definitely going to have to have surgery,” Manager Ned Yost said. “He’s going to be out for a while. I mean it’s a 12- to 14-month recovery. The good thing is when he comes back he’ll be every bit as good as he was before he got hurt.”

Vargas had been on the disabled list twice this season because of elbow injuries.

The Royals filled his spot in the rotation by recalling Yordano Ventura, the hard-throwing right-hander who had been sent to triple-A Omaha a day earlier to work on his inconsistency and regain some confidence after a string of poor starts.

Ventura will start Sunday against the Houston Astros.

Vargas, 32, is 5-2 with a 3.98 earned-run average. He is in the second year of a four-year, $32-million contract.

Orioles put Steve Pearce on DL

Baltimore Orioles utility man Steve Pearce was put on the 15-day DL because of a strained muscle on his left side. The move is retroactive to July 19.

Pearce is batting .227 with seven home runs and 24 runs batted in. He has started 16 games at first base, 13 at second base, 12 in left field and five in right field.

Pearce said he has been getting treatment on the sore oblique for a couple of days and “it’s time to take care of it.”

Several teams win competitive balance lottery picks

The Cincinnati Reds, Oakland Athletics, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates won picks after the first round of next year’s draft in Major League Baseball’s competitive balance lottery.

The lottery involved the 10 teams with the lowest revenue and 10 in the smallest markets. They were competing for six picks after the first round. A club’s odds of winning the lottery were based on its winning percentage last season.

The teams that did not win a pick after the first round were entered into another lottery for picks after the second round.

The Orioles, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bays Rays won second-round picks.

Rob Manfred says trade deadline might need to be adjusted

Commissioner Rob Manfred said that he thinks baseball may need to consider moving the trade deadline back so teams in the hunt for a wild card have more time to make decisions.

A second wild card in each league was added in 2012, keeping more teams in playoff contention long past the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline. Manfred says teams may “want to wait a little longer” to evaluate their roster needs.

Manfred also said he hopes there can be some exhibition games in Cuba next spring.