When Vince Velasquez clutched his right elbow in the third inning Thursday afternoon, it was a sign something wasn’t right for the Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher.

Velasquez retired the side, but when he walked off the mound he told Pirates manager Derek Shelton he was having right elbow discomfort and said, “I don’t think I can go any longer.”

The Pirates removed Velasquez from the game, a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., and had him examined and treated by the team’s medical staff.

“Anytime you hear that, we’re going to be really precautionary … and just make sure he’s OK,” Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “We’ll get further testing and go from there.”

Velasquez allowed one run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts in three innings. He appeared to tweak the elbow on a slider that led to Manuel Margot’s groundout to second to start the third.

“There was a pitch where I felt some discomfort,” Velasquez said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “I kind of lost velocity throughout the third. I could have kept going, but it was just uncomfortable at the end.”

The Pirates (20-12) had to be concerned about Velasquez and the state of their starting rotation. They already have lost one starter, right-hander JT Brubaker, to Tommy John surgery this season. Velasquez said the plan was for him to be re-evaluated Friday in Pittsburgh, as the Pirates return to PNC Park for a six-game homestand, to see how he feels followed by a discussion on how to treat the injury.

Afterward, Velasquez said he thought it was “just a little freak accident” and “nothing too severe.”

“I’m pretty optimistic about it,” Velasquez said. “I’ve been in situations like this before. I’m glad I stopped when I needed to. If I would’ve kept going it probably would’ve been more severe. I just have to be optimistic and then go from there.”

The 30-year-old right-hander, signed to a one-year, $3.15 million contract this offseason, has been one of the Pirates’ most effective starters this season. After losing his first two starts, Velasquez was 4-0 with a 1.08 ERA in his past four while holding opponents to a .165 batting average and .463 OPS over 25 innings.

Velasquez had thrown 18 consecutive scoreless innings coming into the game and stretched that streak to 19 before giving up a solo home run to Taylor Walls in the second inning. Velasquez retired the final five batters he faced before taking himself out of the game.

The Rays swept the three-game series in a matchup of the teams with the best records in baseball, handing the Pirates their fourth consecutive loss.

“That’s a tough decision. It’s unfortunate,” Velasquez said. “Coming into the series, we had high expectations and we kind of fell short. Obviously, I was in the driver’s seat and felt like I was ready to go after these guys. To have a little hiccup like this is a little disappointing. Like I said, I’m pretty optimistic about the outcome and, hopefully, I keep building from there.”

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