CINCINNATI -- Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips exited Wednesday night's 4-3 loss against the Royals before the top of the seventh inning because of inflammation in his right biceps, the team announced.

Phillips, who was replaced by Ivan De Jesus Jr., showed no obvious signs of an injury during the game while he went 2-for-3 at the plate. He and Joey Votto hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning to make it a 2-2 game. Phillips' homer to left field, his ninth blast of the season, came against Jeremy Guthrie.

"It's just that it got sore," manager Bryan Price said. "I think he had some problems with it when he laid out [for a ball on Tuesday]. And it lingered. We don't think it's anything extreme, but it could be something that requires a little bit of missed time."

In the sixth inning, Phillips got up a little slowly following a diving attempt on Ben Zobrist's leadoff single, but the second baseman never was visited by the trainer as play continued without issue.

"I just think it was there and any time he did something with a dive, an extend, a throw or a swing, it was just a reminder that it was sore," Price said.

In 107 games this season, Phillips is batting .286 with 44 RBIs. He is the second Reds regular to leave a game in two nights in this series. Center fielder Billy Hamilton sustained a sprained capsule in his right shoulder during a diving catch attempt in Tuesday night's 3-1 loss in 13 innings and was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday.