The Pirates announced tonight that right-hander Chad Kuhl exited his start after four innings due to discomfort in his right forearm. Forearm discomfort can be ominous in and of itself, but Kuhl’s exit is made all the more concerning by the fact that he uncorked three wild pitches, walked a pair and threw just 40 of his 73 offerings on the evening for strikes. There’s been no word on Kuhl since the Bucs and Mets wrapped up tonight’s game, but if he requires a DL stint, the Pirates can turn to righty Nick Kingham once again. While he’s currently in the minors, Kingham has pitched well both in the Majors and in Triple-A so far this season.
As we await further word on Kuhl, who has a 4.55 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 85 innings out of the rotation in 2018, here are a few more notable injury updates from around the around the game…
- Ervin Santana looks to be back on track toward a return to the Twins, as MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger tweets that the veteran right-hander is slated to head to Class-A Advanced Fort Myers on Saturday to embark on a rehab assignment. Santana has already started one rehab assignment this season as he works back from February finger surgery, but he had to cut that assignment short due to lingering discomfort. Over the weekend, it was reported that Santana was still struggling and wasn’t able to reach 90 mph with his fastball in a throwing session last week, but it seems he’s trending back up. Bollinger notes that a live batting practice session went well for Santana, leading to the decision to send him out on rehab.
- The Orioles placed right-hander Dylan Bundy on the 10-day DL due to an ankle sprain that he sustained while running the bases during interleague play over the weekend. Left-hander Donnie Hart was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk in his place. Thankfully for the O’s, the injury doesn’t sound to be overly serious; Rich Dubroff of PressboxOnline.com tweets that Bundy is only expected to miss two starts with the ankle issue. Despite bizarrely authoring one of the worst starts in MLB history earlier this year (seven earned runs, no outs recorded), Bundy has been Baltimore’s best starter in the aggregate so far. He’s notched a 3.75 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 through 96 innings over the life of 16 starts.
- Baltimore also looks likely to place righty Darren O’Day on the 10-day disabled list, as MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes. O’Day incurred some type of leg injury while fielding a bunt, signaled for the trainer, and exited after throwing just one warmup pitch. Kubatko notes that O’Day was bothered by some hamstring soreness a week ago and may have aggravated that ailment. MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli adds (via Twitter) that both O’Day and outfielder Craig Gentry are DL-bound for the Orioles, with the latter being troubled by a rib injury that stems from being hit by a pitch recently.
- The Rangers announced Tuesday that rookie first baseman Ronald Guzman has been placed on the 7-day concussion list, with Ryan Rua returning from Triple-A Round Rock to take his spot on the active roster. Guzman sustained his concussion when he dove back into third base on a pickoff attempt but collided with the knee of Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva. The 23-year-old Guzman, long one of the Rangers’ most promising farmhands, had a rough start to the season but came alive in late May and had compiled an impressive .266/.364/.489 slash in his most recent 110 PAs leading up to the injury.