ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Detroit Tigers left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez flagged manager AJ Hinch in the dugout with a first-inning out. He left Wednesday’s start moments later after a brief visit to the mound by athletic trainer Doug Teter.

The 29-year-old injured his left side.

“I felt a little pinch in the side,” Rodriguez said.

Hinch said Rodriguez likely needs a stint on the disabled list.

“He’ll be down for a while,” Hinch said.

Six of seven hitters reached safely against Rodriguez, whose four-seam fastball was averaging 89.5 mph. He mostly relied on his change and cutter against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

Rodriguez withdrew from his outing.

“When I was warming up in the bullpen, I felt a pinch in the side,” Rodriguez said. “I couldn’t throw the ball as hard as I could. We’ll see what it is, and we’ll see from there. … I’ll check with the doctors and everything, then we’ll see what it is .”

He threw 23 pitches, 11 for strikes.

“It looks like his left side is in the way,” Hinch said after Wednesday’s 6-1 loss at Tropicana Field. “He said he could go. He never really felt anything during the week and got worse and worse as he warmed up. He tried to go. You could somehow say he was gone.”