Wendle to injured list; Rays call up Arroyo

April 1st, 2019

ST. PETERSBURG -- After suffering a left hamstring injury during Sunday’s game and undergoing more tests afterward, Rays infielder Joey Wendle was placed on the 10-day injured list on Monday.

“Very disappointing just because he brings so much to our team offensively and defensively, as versatile as much as anybody that we have,” manager Kevin Cash said. “It stinks, but we’ll treat him and get him back as soon as possible. Hopefully it’s a short stint.”

Christian Arroyo, who has experience playing second base, shortstop and third base, will get called up to the big league club.

“He’s going to play,” Cash said. “Everybody that comes up, they don’t just come up to sit. He’ll play a role, whether it’s third base [or] second base.”

Wendle injured the hamstring as he covered second base on Jake Marisnick's stolen-base attempt in the sixth inning of the Rays’ 3-1 win over the Astros on Sunday. Wendle stayed on the ground for a few seconds before running off the field under his own power.

It appeared Wendle might have dodged a serious injury, but he was replaced by Brandon Lowe in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“Obviously disappointing because you don’t want to get hurt,” Wendle said. “It was probably the right call. It’s just something where I have to trust our training staff. Disappointed in the fact that you spend a lot of time preparing and trying not to get injured, but I respect the decision of the front office and the training staff, and they’re good at what they do.”

Wendle said the hamstring was a little sore Monday, and he won’t be doing too many activities for the next couple of days. The Rays will get a better sense of how long he will remain sidelined after the swelling goes down in the next three or four days.

“At this point,” Wendle said, “we’re just taking it day by day.”

Over the next week and a half, Arroyo will give the Rays another right-handed bat off the bench, which gives Cash options when the club faces a left-handed pitcher.

Arroyo, 23, battled through multiple injuries last season, but he was still able to appear in 20 games with the Rays, slashing .264/.339/.396 in 59 plate appearances. Arroyo showed up to Spring Training fully healthy and in better shape, but the Rays optioned him fairly early to get him more regular at-bats in Minor League camp.

“We talked about it a lot during the spring, about a guy that really needed to play consistently,” Cash said. “We’ve kind of interrupted that again now, but he’s going to play, and he’ll impact us and make a positive contribution wherever we ask him.”

The move came as a surprise to Arroyo, who was on his way to Durham, N.C., for Thursday's start of the Triple-A season when he got the call from the Rays.

Arroyo, who was a big piece in the return from the Giants for Evan Longoria, could face his former team when the Rays visit San Francisco for a three-game set beginning Friday.

“It’ll be nice to see some guys that I came up with,” Arroyo said. “I’ll probably go get some dinner with a couple of them.”