The first few regular-season games back at shortstop for the Reds for Eugenio Suárez were not smooth, complete with three errors -- including two on Opening Day -- and some difficulty turning double plays. But since making a nice diving play for his club Tuesday, Suárez has been feeling better.

“When you make those plays and everybody watches you and says, ‘Nice play,’ you feel great about yourself,” Suárez said Saturday. “My defense feels good. I feel better now at shortstop. I’ve been working so hard. Now I feel like I’ve got my rhythm again and I feel so great. I just want to help my team on defense -- both sides -- not just offensive.”

Suárez was originally a shortstop but moved to third base in 2016 and has spent the past five seasons there. The club lacked a regular shortstop coming into '21 and moving him there in Spring Training allowed the Reds to put Mike Moustakas back at his natural position – third base -- and let rookie Jonathan India get into the lineup as the second baseman.

“That diving catch I made, it made me feel so good and [feel like], ‘Yeah, you know how to play this position and you’ve got your movement.’ My confidence is so high,” Suárez said. “I feel so happy being back at my natural position and doing my best every day.”

As the Reds' offense has been off to a torrid start, Suárez has been cold out of the gate. He entered Saturday batting .136/.310/.318 with one home run, but he did not feel the move to a different position has been at the root of his hitting trouble.

“It’s not about defense,” said Suárez, who was 1-for-4 with a double and sacrifice fly in Friday’s 6-5 win over Arizona. “My last few games, I’ve been thinking about mechanics during my at-bat. You can’t think about it. When you’re hitting, you have to see the ball and hit the ball, like I always say. But I’ve been thinking about where my hands are, ‘Are my hands here?’ My leg kick and all that stuff. When I start thinking like that, I don’t have time to compete.”

Winker left with calf cramps
In his first game back from missing four games with a stomach bug, Reds left fielder Jesse Winker went 3-for-3 with a double. But he left the game after five innings with cramps in his calves and was held out of Saturday’s starting lineup.

“Today there’s a little soreness from the cramps,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He’s out moving around now. He should be available off the bench [Saturday]. I think it was just a combination of being sick, being a little dehydrated from being sick. We had a big work day [Friday] too, and he was on base three times. All of that -- he made plays in the outfield, ran a lot. It was a lot for Day 1.”

Gray throws sim game

Reds pitcher Sonny Gray could be activated by the end of next week after he threw a simulated game Saturday afternoon.

“It was a good day, a success,” Bell said. “We’ll still have to figure out what his next step is. I would imagine his next step is pitching on our team and making a start sometime next week.”

Should Gray be ready, the Reds would likely have to decide on who comes out of the rotation between Jeff Hoffman or José De León.

Hoffman, Saturday’s starter, is out of Minor League options and could potentially move to the bullpen. De León, who is scheduled to start Sunday, has Minor League options and could either go to the alternate training site in Louisville or stay in the big league bullpen.