TJ Friedl gets HBP in the 1st, exits due to injury
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PHOENIX — The struggling Reds barely had time to enjoy having TJ Friedl back contributing to their regular lineup and now they are faced with losing their center fielder again for several more weeks.
Friedl went on the 10-day injured list on Monday with a broken left thumb. It’s terrible luck for the 28-year-old, who was only six games into his return from a fractured right wrist suffered on March 16 that had kept him out for six weeks.
“You can’t control it. It’s one of those freak things, just like the fracture at Spring Training. It’s just part of baseball,” Friedl said.
On the first pitch of the first inning from Kyle Harrison during Sunday’s 6-5 loss to the Giants at Oracle Park, Friedl was hit on the hand by a fastball. After exiting the game, initial X-rays were inconclusive.
More imaging tests were performed on Monday morning in Phoenix, which revealed the break. Friedl, who felt an increasing level of pain overnight, wasn’t too shocked the news was bad. But he was hoping it was somehow just a bruise.
“When I fractured my wrist, it was my first time ever breaking anything and I remember how that felt internally,” he said. “It was hard to tell with my thumb because it was so numb. My nail was bruised up. Halfway up, my thumb was all numb and bruised up.”
Friedl and the club were waiting for the results of an additional CT scan, which is expected to reveal the full extent of the break, before determining a timeline for a return.
For a Reds club that has lost 10 of its last 11 games and 13 of its previous 16 entering Monday’s game vs. the Diamondbacks, it’s more tough news to absorb.
TJ Friedl’s RBI double
“It sucks. He’s an effect player and you never need to lose a person like that,” leader of baseball tasks Scratch Krall said. “He’s a person that truly has an effect on this ballclub, both in the clubhouse and on the field – – upsettingly and protectively.”
Cincinnati called up corner outfielder Jacob Hurtubise from Triple-A Louisville to supplant Friedl on the 26-man program. For Hurtubise, positioned by MLB Pipeline as Cincinnati’s No. 24 possibility, it denotes his most memorable major association call-up.
Like during Friedl’s past physical issue, Will Benson and Stuart Fairchild will part time in focus field to help the Reds through his nonattendance.
List whittling down has been especially severe with a Reds club that entered 2024 hoping to be season finisher competitors. Other than Friedl, Matt McLain (left shoulder a medical procedure) and Christian Encarnacion-Strand (cracked right hand) are likewise out of the setup. One more expected supporter, third baseman Noelvi Marte, is serving a 80-game suspension for utilizing execution improving medications.
Jacob Hurtubise’s first homer of the season
Unpleasantly, the Reds entered Monday positioned 29th out of 30 clubs in group batting (.215). A few key hitters – – including Elly De La Cruz, Spencer Steer and Benson – – have been buried in expanded droops.
Supervisor David Ringer demanded it was anything but a period for his group to overreact.
“That won’t help us by any stretch of the imagination. With our group, it’s not so much as an inquiry. It’s not so much as a choice. You simply push ahead,” Ringer said. “No one will feel frustrated about us. Each group goes through this stuff. We’re the same.”
In the event that it’s not opportunity to overreact, is now is the ideal time to search for ways of adding more hostile profundity? Krall is watching out for the market for chances to look for help, yet nothing is inescapable.
“The present moment, we’re simply attempting to sort out how we might best assistance this ballclub,” Krall said. “I realize we’ve lost a few games the most recent fourteen days. Simultaneously, we’ve been close a couple of times. We’ve lost a small bunch of one-run games that might have gone an alternate way. You dominate two of those matches, it’s an alternate inclination.”
In the interim, the Reds will proceed without Friedl – – in the future.
“It’s Might 13 and this group has taken care of a ton of difficulty,” Friedl said. “Simply being back with these folks and back in the clubhouse, they’ve all taken care of it well. They appear consistently all set. That is actually all you have some control over.”
Mark Sheldon takes care of the Reds for MLB.com beginning around 2006, and recently covered the Twins from 2001-05. Follow him on Facebook.