Garrett (left foot) put on DL; Stephens recalled

Reds have one lefty reliever in bullpen; Votto doing running drills to test leg

August 29th, 2018

CINCINNATI -- The Reds placed lefty reliever on the 10-day disabled list on Wednesday (retroactive to Sunday) with a bone bruise in his left foot. Right-hander was activated from the 10-day DL in a corresponding move.
Garrett last pitched on Saturday with one inning against the Cubs and gave up one run on two hits.
"In the Chicago game, I threw a pitch, [Ian] Happ lined out, and I just landed wrong or twisted it or something. I felt a sharp pain," Garrett said.
Garrett remained in the game and returned for the fifth inning, but he gave up 's leadoff homer.
"It's one of those things that gets to the point where it's, 'All right, you can't keep doing this. You have to let people know,'" Garrett said. "I don't feel like I'd be helping the team if I was going out there and pitching hurt. We came to a decision and felt this was the best."
Garrett entered Wednesday's game vs. the Brewers tied for the team lead with 58 appearances. He has a 4.21 ERA this season over 57 2/3 innings with 31 of 39 inherited runners stranded.
"[The medical staff] gave him a shot," Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. "Hopefully, that will speed up the recovery process. He was really hurting. We can't use him."
Garrett wondered if the injury was related to when he was struck on the same leg by an sharp ground ball on June 26 at Atlanta. X-rays were negative, but he has posted an 8.44 ERA in 21 games since.

There was no prognosis on when Garrett might return.
"I will rehab and stuff like that. We'll see how it goes and how I react to the rehab program," Garrett said.
Stephens had been on the DL since July 24 with a partially torn meniscus in his right knee. He completed a rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville but was hit hard, allowing 10 runs on 13 hits over 10 1/3 innings in seven games.
One lefty remaining in bullpen
With Garrett on the DL and joining into the starting rotation on Thursday, the lone southpaw in the Reds' bullpen is .
"That happens," Riggleman said. "You'd prefer to have two, sometimes even three. But a lot of times, clubs only have one.
"Basically, we've got to get our right-handers to be more effective against left-handed hitters. That's a challenge. There's a lot of good left-handed hitting in the division -- Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, the Cubs. We've got to do a better job of getting those left-handers out."
Rosters expand on Saturday, but it didn't sound like Cincinnati would add another lefty reliever. The only lefty pitcher on the 40-man roster is , but he has struggled all season for Louisville. Since being demoted in May, Finnegan is 2-10 with a 7.21 ERA in 27 games (eight starts) and shown no improvement after moving to the bullpen. In 19 relief appearances since July 27, he has a 7.15 ERA with 31 hits, 19 walks and 20 strikeouts over his last 22 2/3 innings. It didn't sound like he was being considered for a promotion.
"I don't know about Finnegan," Riggleman said. "We haven't talked about who the callups are. Actually, until you just said that, I hadn't thought about who the left-handers would be. [Kyle] Crockett is down there, Finnegan's down there. Being one down, three days from now when the rosters expanded, I guess that's a possibility that we can add a left-hander that way."
Votto update
Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who has been on the 10-day DL since Aug. 17 with a lower right leg contusion, was not activated on Wednesday. Like on Tuesday, Votto was slated to perform a series of running drills to test his leg on Wednesday.
"He and the trainers will let me know after that test if he's going to be available [Thursday] or not," Riggleman said.