NEW YORK -- Reds shortstop Zack Cozart was getting treatment in the training room Wednesday morning after aggravating a sore right quadriceps running the bases on Tuesday vs. the Yankees.
Cozart was unavailable to play Wednesday vs. New York, but Cincinnati did not place him on the 10-day disabled list.
"We knew he wouldn't be playing today," Reds manager Bryan Price said Wednesday. "He's probably a little sore, but our training staff is optimistic this wouldn't be a long-term setback. We'll see how he is [Thursday]. I would think he'd be really limited in anything he could do today for precautionary reasons -- even if he was feeling better."
Cozart was pinch-hitting in the eighth inning of Tuesday's 4-2 loss to the Yanks, and he tried to beat out a double play. In a 3-1 game at the time, the soreness left him unable to run at full speed or score the potential tying run on Billy Hamilton's two-out RBI double.
Cozart's quad has been problematic since he first injured it in mid-May and went on the DL from June 19-30. He's received scheduled days off as protection since his activation, and Tuesday was one of those days.
This latest setback is an added issue for both Cozart and the front office. The Reds had hoped that Cozart could be a potential candidate to be dealt ahead of Monday's non-waiver Trade Deadline. The market need for shortstops wasn't robust to begin with, but a shortstop who can't run at full speed is a red flag.
As for Cozart himself, he will be a free agent for the first time after the season, and he's already dealt with injuries for three straight seasons. In June 2015, he needed reconstructive surgery on his right knee, and the same knee had tendinitis in '16, leaving him unable to play most of the final month of the season.
"I'm trying to pay respect that he's had an issue with the quad, and we kind of really start to build his workload back up, but also build in definitive off-days," Price said. "He did all of his pregame warmup and stretches. It wasn't something I think anybody would have expected to happen.
"I think we just do the best we can. I wouldn't put him back in a situation like that if that is the starting point. It wasn't where he finished yesterday's game -- stiff and sore and unable to burst off of the quad. We're all optimistic, and hopefully that aggravation of the quad yesterday is not going to be a long-term issue in limiting his playing time moving forward."