Reds exercising caution with Lorenzen's rehab

CINCINNATI -- Reds reliever Michael Lorenzen has been rehabilitating his strained teres major muscle near his right shoulder, but he has yet to begin a throwing program. That could change after Lorenzen visits the doctor on Wednesday for a follow-up exam to see if he's made any progress.
"I think it's going to be very point-specific, making sure the injury itself is fully recovered before he starts a throwing program," Reds manager Bryan Price said on Tuesday. "We've been down this road before with [Johnny] Cueto and with [Brandon] Finnegan."
Last season in April, Finnegan strained the left trapezius near his shoulder and suffered a similar injury in his first start back on June 26, when he strained the teres major. That cost him the remainder of the season, although he also injured his right shoulder in an incident off the field.
The Reds will take no chances trying to rush Lorenzen, who is with the club in Cincinnati.
"We want to make sure that injury is healed. I think everybody's optimistic that he's healed at a faster pace than we originally thought he would," Price said.

More injury reports
Right fielder Scott Schebler was out of the lineup for a second straight game because of a right elbow contusion. Schebler was hit by a pitch on the elbow during Sunday's game vs. Washington. He is expected to be at full strength for the start of Thursday's series at Pittsburgh.
Brandon Finnegan (left biceps strain) is slated to throw 80-85 pitches during a simulated game on Wednesday with Triple-A Louisville. Price did not want to commit to when Finnegan could be activated from the disabled list.
"We're just going to evaluate performance and make sure that he's No. 1, feeling good, No. 2, that his stuff is regular-season ready," Price said. "The caveat when we went over this preparation schedule for being activated here was we'd get through [April 4] and re-evaluate and define if he's ready to come and join us on [April 9] or make one start in our Minor League system and make sure everything is on the up-and-up."
Reliever David Hernandez, on the 10-day DL with right shoulder inflammation, played catch on Monday without pain. He was slated to long toss from 75 feet on Tuesday.
Starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani, who is on the 60-day DL because of a left oblique strain, began a throwing program this week. Tuesday marked his third day of throwing at the team's complex in Goodyear, Ariz.

Innings being eaten
Through the first four games, the Reds rotation provided three quality starts; Homer Bailey, Sal Romano and Tyler Mahle all pitched six innings, allowing three earned runs or fewer. Getting starters past the fifth inning was a problem for Cincinnati last season.
"It's excellent," Price said. "We initially thought we'd have a four-man rotation until [April 9] and an eight-man bullpen. With one rainout, the whole pitching roster reshaped itself. We went to five-man rotation and seven-man bullpen. Because of that, we had to rely on our starters to eat up some innings or we could be talking about a very tired bullpen, and we're not. This should be a sign of things to come. We're not yet prescribing to this two-times-through-the-order thing. As long I'm here, we won't be. We're going to need the pitchers to eat up innings."