MINNEAPOLIS – The Twins’ busy Trade Deadline was spent fortifying the pitching staff as much as they could, and the crown jewel of all that wheeling and dealing was Tyler Mahle, whom they very much needed as a workhorse, front-of-rotation arm through the end of this season and beyond.

Three starts into Mahle’s career in Minnesota, his new club is hoping that will remain the case.

Mahle was pulled during the third inning of the Twins’ 4-0 victory in Wednesday’s series finale against the Royals with right shoulder fatigue, the club announced later in the game, though manager Rocco Baldelli said there was no immediate pain and Mahle “checked out relatively OK.” An MRI later revealed no structural issues to the shoulder, and the Twins announced on Thursday that Mahle will remain day to day with "general soreness and fatigue."

As of the Twins’ latest update, Mahle was slated to undergo an MRI for additional evaluation, with further news expected in the coming days.

“He didn’t really want to come out of the game, to be honest, even after everything that was going on,” Baldelli said. “If that’s a good sign, it’s a good sign, but we’ll wait and see until we know more.”

Though Mahle didn’t allow any hits in his 2 1/3 frames, the right-hander’s velocity was considerably down throughout his outing, putting Baldelli and others in the dugout on notice. Though he entered Wednesday’s game averaging 93.4 mph on his heater this season, he was nearly four ticks below that with an average of 89.3 mph on the 20 heaters he threw against the Royals, topping 90 mph on only six of those. During Mahle’s last start on Friday in Anaheim, that same fastball had topped out at 95.9 mph.

Mahle made it 42 pitches into this appearance until he started to stretch his right arm following a 1-2 foul ball by Maikel Garcia with one out in the third inning, at which point Baldelli and head athletic trainer Michael Salazar emerged from the dugout to remove Mahle from the game.

“There was nothing acute that was bothering him,” Baldelli said. “He had some general soreness, but he didn’t mention anything that was painful. He said the ball wasn’t coming out, obviously, the way he wanted, but he was still able to pitch. That being said, there were moments, and discussions that were had in the first inning or two, because we knew the ball wasn’t coming out the way it normally would.”

The area of this potential injury have been more concerning because Mahle had already missed three weeks in July with a right shoulder strain. He still appeared to be his usual effective self following his return from that injury, as he allowed nine earned runs in 26 1/3 frames across five outings following his return – including three with the Twins.

But teammate Emilio Pagán, who threw two scoreless innings in relief after entering as an injury replacement, said that Mahle had been “battling his shoulder” in past starts, though Baldelli described that as “maintenance” and “nothing drastic.” Mahle was not available for comment after the game.

“He’s a warrior,” Pagán said. “I think he wanted to stay in the game, but it’s probably best for our team to get him out and stay ahead of it and make sure he gets enough rest and some treatment moving forward.”

Even with Mahle’s early exit, the Twins’ bullpen picked up the slack to complete a second straight shutout, as Pagán, Griffin Jax, Jhoan Duran, Michael Fulmer and Trevor Megill combined to blank the Royals over the game’s final 6 2/3 innings. Minnesota’s pitching staff finished off the three-game sweep – the Twins’ first since late May – by tossing 26 consecutive scoreless innings.

“We needed every one of those guys,” Baldelli said. “It’s not like we had ways to go out there and help a guy, or start bringing other guys in to really match up. We just had to hand them the ball and allow them to go out there and do their jobs, and they did. And they did it thoroughly and they did it until the very end.”

Despite the encouraging news, if Mahle still needs to miss a turn in the rotation or push his next start back a few days to rest the shoulder, rookie Cole Sands -- already in the club’s bullpen -- could perhaps make a spot start, or the Twins could call up Devin Smeltzer from Triple-A St. Paul.