Garrett Richards suffered a "significant injury" to his left patellar tendon on Wednesday night and is scheduled to fly back to Los Angeles to be examined by team doctors.

Richards sustained the injury while covering first base in the second inning against the Boston Red Sox. Albert Pujols had fielded a ground ball and thrown to second for a force play with Boston runners on first and second. Richards never made it to the bag, as he fell to the ground, clutching his left knee in pain.

"Obviously he's very distraught," Mike Scioscia said. "He knows that it's not good, and we'll get some direction from our medical staff."

Scioscia refused to speculate on whether Richards is lost for the rest of the season, but Jered Weaver said Richards was told in the trainers room that he might require surgery.

A torn patellar tendon almost always requires surgery and involves a recovery of at least three to six months.

Richards is 13-4 with a 2.61 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 164 strikeouts in 168.2 innings this season.