Things were going well for Hunter Greene on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Rays. He had already tossed 2.0 shutout innings against the hottest team in baseball, but with a runner on base in the top of the third Yandy Diaz hit a hard ground ball back up the middle that hit Greene in the lower leg before rolling to first baseman Wil Myers who fielded the ball and stepped on first base to record an out.
After the play it was manager David Bell and trainer Tomas Vera making their way to the mound to check on Greene. A short talk followed and then Hunter Greene threw some pitches to show that he was capable of remaining in the game. And he did. The right-hander struck out Brandon Lowe before inducing a pop up to second base from Randy Arozarena to end the inning.
When the 4th inning began it wasn’t Hunter Greene taking the mound for Cincinnati. Instead it was reliever Buck Farmer that took over for the Reds, holding a 1-0 lead.
Prior to Hunter Greene exiting the game his velocity was down. It’s a chilly night in Cincinnati, but it’s not freezing. The temperature during the game when Greene was on the mound was around 50°, thought there was a consistent breeze to go with that. Still, Greene averaged just 96.8 MPH on his fastball and topped out at 97.8. This season he had averaged 99.5 MPH on his fastball in his previous three starts on the year.
Update: 8:19pm ET
The Cincinnati Reds announced that Hunter Greene left the game tonight with a right tibia contusion. They also made note that he had X-rays and that they were negative.
At the very least it’s good news that the X-rays were negative. The bad news could be that things were to the point that they felt they should take X-rays.
Hopefully nothing serious. Would hate to see him miss a start. We can’t afford it.
The hard part about a contusion like that is that it deactivates all the muscles in that area. That’s at least going to be the muscles that control dorsiflexion. But if it’s high enough to the knee, both the quads and hamstrings insert there, so they can all be deactivated.
It’s really important to get someone rest, treatment, and reactivated because a contusion like that can quickly lead to other injuries. Pro athletes tend to recovery quickly from things like this but he might miss a start. The important thing is to ensure that it doesn’t lead to other injuries.
With only the negative x-ray officially reported this is about the best summary possible. Excellent conditioning hopefully keeps this at a 7 to 10 day recovery – one or two starts – and hotter weather next start (now to check the schedule for where that could be).
Does anyone know what roster move was made to add Luke weaver?
Haven’t made it yet. Weaver isn’t officially on the active roster yet. Will be added Wednesday.
How about that Reds BP! Six innings, one run against one of the best offensive teams in the major leagues. Big win!
Boy, I sure hope Hunter is ok. My biggest concern is with what Doug reported – about his velocity being down. We need Hunter to have a good, healthy year throwing 150-170 innings. That is how he will get to know what he can and can’t do as a pitcher in the major leagues.
Maybe he has learned, from Ashcraft, that pitching seven innings at 97 is better than four at 100+. He is learning.
I like your comment, learn to pitch, not just throw
If Greene is going to miss the next start I think Herget could be an intriguing choice…
Gonna need a lot of rainouts…