Kansas City Royals place Will Smith on 15-day IL with back spasms

The Kansas City Royals placed reliever Will Smith on the 15-day injured list Monday with low back spasms.

The 35-year-old left-hander is 0-4 with a career-worst 6.53 ERA through 45 relief appearances this season.

Smith is 33-45 with a 3.85 ERA and 114 saves in 618 games (17 starts) with six teams. He was an All-Star with San Francisco in 2019 and has been on the teams that have won the past three World Series -- Atlanta (2021), Houston (2022) and Texas (2023).

The Royals recalled right-hander Carlos Hernandez from Triple-A Omaha in a corresponding move. Hernandez, 27, is 0-1 with a 3.45 ERA in 15 relief appearances for Kansas City in 2024.