Ashcraft (toe) lands on IL in blow to Reds rotation

CINCINNATI -- As the Reds’ pitching staff deals with a COVID-19 outbreak, it will also have to work without Graham Ashcraft, who landed on the injured list on Saturday with a stress reaction in his right big toe. Ashcraft left his start in Game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader after five-plus innings in part due to the pain in the toe.

“We're still talking through all the information that [team doctors] have,” manager David Bell said. “There's some optimism about him pitching again for us this season, which is great. I mean, there's not that much time left.”

It’s been an up-and-down season for Ashcraft, who was the only member of the Reds’ April rotation on the active roster entering Saturday. He started the year with a 2.00 ERA in his first six starts, but recorded a 12.82 ERA in his next eight. Since June 30, Ashcraft has a 2.48 ERA. He has earned a quality start in 10 of his 12 appearances in that span.

Ashcraft isn’t the first Reds starter to find himself on the injured list with a stress reaction. Left-hander Nick Lodolo has been on the 60-day IL since June 3 with a left tibia stress reaction. He was expected to return in August or September, but he suffered a setback in late August and won’t pitch again in 2023.

Ashcraft’s injury is the latest blow to a Reds rotation that has been hit especially hard over the past two weeks. Just a week after Lodolo’s setback, starters Hunter Greene and Ben Lively tested positive for COVID-19, as did reliever Fernando Cruz. On Saturday, Brandon Williamson joined them as the fourth player to land on the COVID-19 related injured list.

“We're going to get these guys back in seven days,” Bell said. “I always think, with what's going around, it could be worse.”

In addition to players, multiple members of the Reds’ support staff have tested positive, Bell said, but no on-field coaching staff have done so.

Though it’s impossible to know what caused the Reds’ latest outbreak, the team was forced to sit in close quarters on its charter plane through a delay of more than eight hours last Sunday in Arizona because of mechanical issues.

“We were very closely connected as a team over the course of the last week,” Bell said. “We've been together a lot in close quarters, so it could be a lot worse. And these guys that are out, they're out. They're feeling bad.”

The Reds have no probable pitchers listed past Andrew Abbott on Saturday. Williamson was supposed to start Sunday, and Ashcraft’s spot in the rotation was coming up in next week’s series against the Mariners.

While Greene and Lively will be eligible to return to the team on Friday against the Cardinals -- if they test negative and are healthy enough to play -- the Reds have four rotation spots to fill. They added two players to the roster on Saturday in reliever Chasen Shreve and starter and No. 4 prospect Connor Phillips, who came in addition to the three players added on Friday: Lyon Richardson, who started and allowed two runs in 4 2/3 innings in Game 2 on Friday; Carson Spiers, who has started and relieved with Double-A Chattanooga this season; and reliever Tejay Antone, who returned to the bullpen in the Majors after two years recovering from Tommy John surgery. Brett Kennedy, who has started and relieved for the Major League club this season, is another option.

But Bell isn’t sure yet who will start in the interim. The Reds had nine innings to play on Saturday against a potent Cubs team, and needed all the help they can get.

“We really need to see how we get through the game tonight before we name any starters,” Bell said.