Rhett Lowder last pitched on May 7th. He had to exit that game early when in the 4th inning after he walked the first two batters and then started the third hitter of the inning out with a ball he was visited by the trainer and manager Terry Francona and was ultimately pulled from the game.
He was experiencing something with his shoulder, though he told everyone when he was on the mound that he could continue pitching. He wound up getting an MRI that showed everything was good from a structural standpoint, but he did note that he was feeling some “clicking” in his AC joint and wound up getting a cortisone injection in there. Over the weekend it was mentioned by Francona that Lowder would be heading to the injured list.
Cincinnati still has not placed Lowder on the injured list. They could have had an extra player either in the bullpen or on their bench last night and chose not to do that. And that leaves one wondering what they are waiting for.
There are two likely scenarios that have caused them to wait and they involve two players who have been down in Louisville. The Reds are going to need a starting pitcher to take over Lowder’s spot this weekend. The only starting pitcher on the 40-man roster in the minor leagues is Chase Petty. He started on Sunday for the Bats but he left the game early with a blister. He, like Lowder, has not been placed on the injured list. And in the Louisville game notes for Wednesday (they play at 11:05am) Petty is listed as the probable starter for the Bats on Saturday.
Are the Reds waiting to see how Petty’s blister issue is for a few days and potentially calling him up for Saturday if everyone thinks he can go? He can only come up if he’s going to replace an injured pitcher because otherwise he hasn’t spent the required 15 days in the minor leagues since being optioned.
The other possibility is that the club was just waiting an extra day to bring back reliever Caleb Ferguson from his rehab assignment. He was in Louisville last night and has been pitching for Double-A and Triple-A since April 28th. Bringing him back would given them an extra arm in the bullpen for a few days before they would then have to come up with a plan for Saturday’s game.
If they wanted to have both Petty and Ferguson they would have to keep Lowder active and then option someone else to Triple-A to bring Ferguson back, then have Petty replace Lowder. But bringing back Ferguson today may not be in the books quite yet, either. Last night he allowed seven hits and a walk, resulting in five runs in one inning of work. He actually took the mound for a second inning after giving up a home run, single, and a double in his first inning. But in the other inning things went like this: Walk, single, double, double, ground-rule double (this ball should have been caught on the track but it looked like it was lost in the sun towards the end of it’s flight) and then he was pulled from the game after having thrown 30 pitches to 11 batters.
With that kind of performance the Reds might want to get another outing for him in Triple-A before making the decision to have him activated to face big league hitters.
There’s a move or two coming at some point this week. How it all plays out will be interesting to see. The Reds find themselves between a rock and a hard place with starting pitching right now because of all of the injuries they’ve faced. It’s left them with few good options, but they’re going to have to figure it out in the short term very soon and may need something a bit more long term not too far in the future after that.