Reds reliever – Graham Ashcraft was placed on the 60-day injured list with a right UCL sprain, forcing the Reds to call up Yunior Marte from Triple-A Louisville. The move lands while Cincinnati is already shorthanded after closer Emilio Pagán’s left hamstring strain, leaving
CINCINNATI — Just as the Reds’ bullpen looked like it was getting its rhythm back this week, the injury news hit again, hard and immediate. Graham Ashcraft, a high-leverage reliever, was placed on the 60-day injured list on Friday with a right ulnar collateral ligament sprain.
The sprain is in the elbow and forearm areas. To fill the roster spot, Cincinnati called up right-hander Yunior Marte from Triple-A Louisville.
“It’s a punch in the gut,” Ashcraft said. “Everybody on this team has a huge role. It just seems like we’re getting unlucky with guys going down right now. It’s just kind of part of the game, part of what we do, part of our careers. You can’t really do anything about it but just take it day by day and just get yourself better at the end of it.”.
Ashcraft’s trouble started quietly. He last pitched on Monday in the Reds’ 7-2 win over the Mets, working a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts. He felt no soreness during or immediately after pitching. The next morning, he noticed his arm wasn’t right.
“Felt really stiff. It felt like the flexor had a lot of tightness, and it just wasn’t typically normal how I feel after I throw,” Ashcraft said.
He told the training staff and took Tuesday off, but he still didn’t feel improvement on Wednesday. Team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tim Kremchek diagnosed the right-hander with the UCL sprain and recommended a platelet-rich plasma injection, which was scheduled for Tuesday. Ashcraft is getting a second opinion, but he’s hoping to avoid season-ending Tommy John surgery.
“Missing 2 1/2 months is a lot better than missing a year-and-a-half,” Ashcraft said.
Last season, he missed two weeks on the IL with a right forearm strain in a similar area, and he said the difference this time was how widespread the soreness felt.
“It felt a lot more sore than it was last year,” he said. “Last year, it was very isolated to one kind of specific part of the muscle valley of the forearm. This year, it felt like the entire flexor from my wrist down was really sore. And that’s kind of the sign of a UCL sprain.”
On the field, Ashcraft has been one of the bullpen’s steadier options. In 26 appearances and 27 innings this season, he has posted a 3.33 ERA, with opponents batting .183 against him. His 54.1% ground-ball rate ranks in the 92nd percentile of MLB, a skill that’s helped Cincinnati limit hard contact.
Manager Terry Francona tied Ashcraft’s value to how teams are forced to manage late-inning matchups. “It was probably more than his innings because he had the ability to face left- and right-handers,” Francona said. “It didn’t always work out like we wanted it to. but still. when you know what you can do with somebody. [it’s] like. ‘Here’s your slot. go get ‘em.’ It really helps. It makes it more difficult [without Ashcraft]. It doesn’t mean you can’t do it, just means it’s a little more difficult.”.
That difficulty is arriving on top of another bullpen loss. The Reds are already without closer Emilio Pagán, who strained his left hamstring during a May 5 appearance against the Cubs and is out 4-8 weeks.
Starting pitchers Hunter Greene, Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson are also among the players currently on the IL.
Francona didn’t dress it up. “Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us,” he said. “As long as we don’t — and I know we won’t. Go compete and keep playing.”
The bullpen’s season has shifted since the month began. After having the best bullpen ERA over the season’s first month. Reds relievers entered Friday ranked 27th in the Major Leagues with a 4.92 ERA. while still leading the Majors with 135 walks. Against the Mets, the bullpen looked steadier, allowing two runs over 8 2/3 innings.
Since Pagán went down, Francona hasn’t named a dedicated closer and has relied on matchups. Tony Santillan, Brock Burke, Sam Moll, Tejay Antone and Pierce Johnson are among the pitchers who will be counted on in the later innings.
“There’s not one person down there that’s not going to be important,” Francona said.
Graham Ashcraft Reds 60-day injured list UCL sprain Yunior Marte Emilio Pagán Terry Francona bullpen injuries Tommy John surgery platelet-rich plasma