CINCINNATI -- The Reds will be without their rotation's best-performing starting pitcher for the near future after Nick Lodolo was placed on the 15-day injured list on Tuesday with a blister on his left index finger.

Lodolo, 26, is 8-3 with a 2.96 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP in 12 starts and 70 innings. He said the blister issue first surfaced near the end of his June 18 outing at Pittsburgh but became an issue against the Red Sox on Sunday.

¡°It¡¯s a waiting game basically letting the skin heal up. As soon as I¡¯m eligible to return, I¡¯ll be ready,¡± Lodolo said.

Lodolo, who lasted a season-low 4 2/3 innings and allowed a season-high-tying four runs in a 7-4 loss to Boston, is eligible to return on July 9. The IL placement is retroactive to Monday.

¡°It¡¯s definitely the right decision," Reds manager David Bell said. "I¡¯m 100 percent convinced of that. Maybe we could have avoided the IL and he would have pitched the 13th day or 14th day. It makes me more confident he could pitch on [July 9]. He¡¯s going to be ready.¡±

The location of the blister is on the pad of the index finger, which made it difficult for Lodolo to have the feel for his potent curveball against the Red Sox.

¡°You don¡¯t feel the ball or control it or anything. It¡¯s just in a bad spot on my finger," he said.

In 2021 at Double-A Chattanooga, Lodolo missed more than three weeks with a blister on the same finger.

"It was a lot worse. It¡¯s really [about] not letting it get to that point," Lodolo said.

This is Lodolo's third stint on the IL this season. He was out to open the season because of a left calf injury that stemmed from his efforts to return from a 2023 stress fracture in that leg's tibia.

On May 15, Lodolo went back on the IL because of a left groin strain.

¡°It¡¯s obviously not fun to get going, stop, get going again," Lodolo said. "There¡¯s nothing I can do about that. I just have to keep moving so in two weeks when I¡¯m ready to go again, I¡¯ve put myself in a good spot to pick up where I left off.¡±

Lodolo has already more than doubled his innings total from last season, when he was limited to seven starts by his leg injury. With the exception of his frequent IL trips, he's been pleased with his performance in 2024.

¡°I feel great. That¡¯s the one thing that¡¯s upsetting about not being able to keep going," he said.

Cincinnati recalled right-handed reliever Yosver Zulueta from Triple-A Louisville to replace Lodolo on the active roster.

The Reds have altered their rotation by moving everybody back a day, with Andrew Abbott now starting Thursday at St. Louis, followed by Frankie Montas, Carson Spiers and Hunter Greene. As for Wednesday's series finale vs. the Pirates, Graham Ashcraft will be recalled from Louisville for the start. Ashcraft was scratched from his scheduled Triple-A start on Tuesday.

In other significant injury news on Tuesday, Bell announced that first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand will have surgery on his right hand that will keep him out for the rest of the regular season. The procedure is scheduled for July 11 in Arizona and his recovery time is expected to be three months.

Currently on the 60-day IL, Encarnacion-Strand has been out since May 8 with a fractured right hand. After seeing a hand specialist in Arizona, tests revealed that there was also ligament damage that will need repairing during the surgery.

Expected to be a big part of the Reds' lineup in his second big league season, the 24-year-old Encarnacion-Strand hit .190 with a .513 OPS and two home runs in 29 games. The injury occurred when he was hit on the hand by a pitch on April 27 at Texas.