CINCINNATI -- Graham Ashcraft had looked as good as he had in weeks before he was hit on the left calf by Austin Barnes’ 105.5 mph comebacker in the third inning of Thursday’s 6-0 loss to the Dodgers at Great American Ball Park.

A team trainer and manager David Bell checked on the right-hander, who walked a few laps around the mound and got set to face the next batter. But after Ashcraft let four of the next five batters reach and allowed three runs, Bell came in to remove him. Ashcraft had a slight limp walking off the field as Fernando Cruz ran in from the bullpen.

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“It caught right in the meat of [the calf],” Ashcraft said. “Kind of up toward the backside of the knee, so that just caused everything kinda on the backside to just lock up.”

Ashcraft said he couldn’t feel the injury while pitching, but the issue came when he had to walk or jog on a ball in play. Lack of range of motion is ultimately what caused Bell to dip into a bullpen that had pitched 23 innings in the first six games of the homestand.

“He wasn't feeling it on the pitches, and truthfully, where we were with our bullpen, it was going to be very difficult to get through the game today,” Bell said. “It's just the price we pay for the last two games and having to use our bullpen a lot. … If Graham could've kept going and kept it loose, I would've given him a shot at it. But it was tightening up too bad. It was time to get him out.”

The 25-year-old believed he would be ready for his next start, comparing it to when Luis Robert Jr. singled off his hamstring during a May 7 outing against the White Sox.

“This is the same thing as when I got hit in the hamstring. It was just one of those things. Two, three days, it'll be gone,” Ashcraft said.

The short start was another blow for Ashcraft, who has a 6.78 ERA this season after a breakout rookie campaign.

Ashcraft allowed just one hit through his first two scoreless innings, a positive change after he'd allowed 19 of his last 47 earned runs in the first two frames entering the series finale. On Thursday, Ashcraft got over that hill and looked more like the pitcher who had a 2.10 ERA in April and less like the one with an 11.13 ERA since.

“I thought it was encouraging, he was throwing a lot more strikes,” catcher Curt Casali said. “His slider was down. He had the two-seam running and the four-seam cutting like normal. Hopefully, that bruise doesn’t linger for too long. It was an encouraging step forward. I just wish we got more pitches out of him to keep building him up and gaining confidence.”

Ashcraft struggled after the comebacker, hitting the next batter, walking two more and then allowing a two-run single. The 2 2/3 innings marked his second-shortest start of the season after his start against the White Sox, during which he allowed eight earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.

Ashcraft’s struggles as of late have been no secret. In seven starts since he held the Padres one run across six innings on May 2, he has pitched more than five innings once, fewer than five three times and hasn’t recorded a start during which he's allowed fewer than three earned runs.

While Ashcraft believes he won’t miss a start, the Reds, who are currently employing a six-man rotation, are in an interesting spot. Cincinnati's No. 6 prospect per MLB Pipeline, Andrew Abbott, made history with six scoreless innings of one-hit ball in his MLB debut on Sunday. Ben Lively, called up a month ago, has been possibly the team’s best starter so far. If the Reds decide to return to a five-man rotation, Ashcraft or Reds No. 10 prospect Brandon Williamson, who has a 5.40 ERA through five career starts, could be the odd man out.