Lodolo heads to IL, hopes to miss minimum time

PHOENIX -- Reds starting pitching has been a strong area for the club, even during its recent struggles. Now it will have to get by without the best starter of the group for a little while.

Left-hander Nick Lodolo was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left groin strain on Wednesday. The move is retroactive to Sunday. Lefty reliever Sam Moll was recalled from Triple-A Louisville.

Lodolo last pitched on Saturday during a 5-1 defeat to the Giants. He allowed four earned runs and five hits over six innings. After allowing a first-inning grand slam, he retired his next eight batters in a row and 13 of his last 15 batters.

He felt the injury following a side bullpen session before that appearance.

"I pitched with it last weekend. This week, coming out of that outing, it didn’t feel any better," Lodolo said. "The last three days, it didn’t progress how I was hoping. Instead of trying to push through something like that and making it worse, we just felt it was best to let it get out of there and come back. We don’t expect it to be long at all.”

Over six starts this season, Lodolo is 3-2 with a 3.34 ERA and 0.94 WHIP. He's struck out 43 batters with nine walks over 35 innings.

“I think it was a smart decision by everyone to just be sure," manager David Bell said of putting Lodolo on the IL. "The good news is, maybe a different time or place, maybe it’s something he pitches through. There wasn’t major concern, but I’m 100 percent convinced it was the right decision to miss a couple of starts right now just to be sure and make sure we keep him healthy the whole way.”

Lodolo was scheduled to start Thursday's series opener against the Dodgers at Los Angeles. A replacement starter wasn't named, but swingman Nick Martinez was expected by Bell to get "significant innings" on Thursday if he wasn't needed during Wednesday's series finale at Arizona.

Lodolo began the season on the IL with a left calf injury and made his first start on April 13. He was limited to only seven starts in 2023 because of a stress fracture in his left tibia.

“This isn’t a long-term thing. It’s, 'This doesn’t feel great.' Instead of hammering it and driving me into the ground with it to make it something, we’ll let it get out now and keep going."

Lodolo is eligible for activation on May 27, which means he will likely miss two starts if there are no setbacks.

“We have guys who are more than capable," Lodolo said. "I will start again in 12 days. It’s not that long.”