The Cincinnati Reds placed center fielder Blake Dunn on the 10-day injured list because of a right elbow sprain and recalled outfielder TJ Friedl from Triple-A Louisville on Sunday.
Friedl started in center field and went 0-4 in a 9-4 loss to the host Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Reds also had two players banged up in the game. Designated hitter Eugenio Suarez was hit by a pitch on his left hand, and shortstop Elly De La Cruz continued playing after spraining his left ankle in the fifth inning, manager Terry Francona said after the game.
Dunn, 27, was injured making a throw to home plate in the fifth inning of the 6-4 win over the Pirates on Friday, and exited the game in the bottom of the sixth. He had an MRI exam on Saturday and it was decided that further tests were needed to determine the severity of the injury. The move to the IL was retroactive to Saturday.
He is batting .282 with two home runs and seven RBIs in 38 games. For his career, Dunn is hitting .232 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 87 games over the last three seasons for Cincinnati.
Friedl, 30, was batting .179 with two homers and eight RBIs in 47 games when he was optioned to Louisville on June 3. Friedl is a career .250 hitter with 56 homers and 209 RBIs in 509 regular-season games.
Suarez was hit by a Mitch Keller fastball on the left hand on the first pitch he faced in the sixth inning. After the hand was examined by Francona and head trainer Sean McQueeney, Suarez stayed in the game. Nathaniel Lowe pinch-hit for him in the eighth inning.
“Right now, it’s very swollen. So, the X-ray doesn’t say anything because it’s too swollen,” said Suarez, 34. “We’ll see what is in there. Right now, obviously, I feel a lot better than when I got hit. I thought he hit me really good. Was painful, but right now, I feel a lot better. So, I pray to God for nothing to come up.”
The team said X-rays were inconclusive, with Suarez slated for a CT scan on Monday in Milwaukee.
“I think the trainer’s hope is that it maybe hit a blood vessel,” Francona said.
Suarez is batting .208 with eight homers and 29 RBIs in 55 games in his second stint with the Reds.
A two-time All-Star, Suarez is a career .245 hitter with 333 homers and 978 RBIs in 1,685 regular-season games for the Detroit Tigers (2014), Reds (2015-21, 2026), Seattle Mariners (2022-23, 2025) and Arizona Diamondbacks (2024-25).
De La Cruz appeared to turn his left foot awkwardly while grounding into an inning-ending double play in the fifth. He stayed on the ground and did not run to first base, but he stayed in the game after meeting with Francona and trainer Tomas Vera.
“Sprained his ankle,” Francona said. “He got it taped and it kind of stiffened up while we were in here, but Tomas worked on him. We’ll kind of re-evaluate him too, see how he’s doing.”
De La Cruz, 24, was activated off the IL on Tuesday after being out three weeks with a right hamstring strain. He is batting .268 with 12 homers and 38 RBIs in 63 games.
The two-time All-Star has a career .257 batting average with 72 homers, 244 RBIs and 149 stolen bases in 483 regular-season games since making his major league debut in 2023.
–Field Level Media
