MILWAUKEE — The Cincinnati Reds put slumping first baseman Joey Votto on the COVID-19 injured list Tuesday, making the move before a game against Milwaukee.
Manager David Bell said Votto hasn’t tested positive for the virus.
“We’re precautionary as far as being able to put him on that COVID IL, which is really a day-to-day thing until we know more,” Bell told Cincinnati reporters.
Votto was in the original starting lineup to face the Brewers, but showed symptoms.
The six-time All-Star is hitting just .122 with no home runs and three RBI, and had played in all 22 Cincinnati games this season. He has struck out 29 times in 74 at-bats.
Cincinnati is struggling with the worst record in the major leagues at 3-19. The Reds had lost six in a row and 17 of 18 going into the series opener against the Brewers.
The 38-year-old Votto tested positive for COVID-19 in March 2021.
On Monday, Votto linked to a blog post on Fangraphs.com that carried this headline: “Is This the End for Joey Votto?” On his Twitter account, he posted: “Five months to go. Enjoy the show.”
He didn’t offer any explanation about his tweet.
The Reds are scheduled to hold a Star Wars Joey Votto bobblehead giveaway at Great American Ball Park on Saturday night when they play Pittsburgh.
For a report on Tuesday’s game head to LimaScores.com.
Clevinger return delayed
CLEVELAND — Mike Clevinger’s wait will last another day.
The right-hander’s first start for San Diego since undergoing elbow surgery in 2020 was postponed Tuesday as a rainy forecast pushed back the Padres’ scheduled game against the Cleveland Guardians.
“I just want to get this under my belt,” Clevinger said in San Diego’s clubhouse shortly after the game was called despite partly sunny skies above Progressive Field. Clevinger did get in some long toss and flat-ground pitches in the outfield grass.
The rainout — and Clevinger’s return — will be made up Wednesday as part of a traditional doubleheader starting at 1:10 p.m.
Zach Plesac will start for the Guardians against his former teammate and close friend.
Padres left-hander MacKenzie Gore will pitch the second game against Cleveland’s Cal Quantrill.
The 31-year-old Clevinger missed last season after undergoing his second Tommy John surgery, and he’ll make his comeback against the Guardians, who traded him to the Padres at the deadline in 2020.
Clevinger went 42-22 with a 3.19 ERA in five seasons for Cleveland, developing into one of the AL’s most reliable starters.
Clevinger and Plesac became inextricably linked in 2020, when they were disciplined by Cleveland for breaking COVID-19 protocols during a road trip in Chicago. The team placed the pair on the MLB restricted list.
Despite that incident, Cleveland manager Terry Francona spoke fondly of Clevinger.
“We say it all the time, they may change uniforms, but unless you’re playing them — which we will be tomorrow — we love the kid,” Francona said. “Because he gets traded doesn’t change who he is or what he meant to us, or what he means to us still.
“He’s a great kid. Hard worker, free spirit, but fun to be around.”
The Guardians just returned from a 10-game trip during which they were swept by both the New York Yankees and Angels before sweeping the Athletics.
Francona doesn’t have a good theory as to why his team has been so erratic.
Perhaps youth?
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think after the first game of the series everybody’s like ‘Well, we’re either going to win or lose.’ It has been a little erratic that it has been like that. So far we’re one series behind. I don’t think that’ll probably play itself out forever, but I don’t know.”
Francona said the team’s ninth-inning loss on April 23 in New York, when some Yankees fans pelted Guardians outfielders with half-full beers and debris as the game ended, may have impacted the trip.
“Sometimes I think it’s more than that (youth),” he said. “I thought maybe the game in New York, the second game, took something out of us for a couple of days. You’d like to think it doesn’t, but I think it did.”
Tigers rained out
DETROIT — The Tigers’ series opener against the Pirates on Tuesday night was postponed because of inclement weather.
The contest, which was called off four hours before the scheduled first pitch, will be made up as the second game of a straight nine-inning doubleheader today. The first game is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
Veteran right-hander Michael Pineda, who was slated to start Tuesday’s game, will start Game 1. In Game 2, the Tigers announced rookie right-hander Alex Faedo, the club’s No. 16-ranked prospect by MLBPipline and first-round draft pick in 2017, will make his MLB debut.
It’s been a long road for Faedo, who had Tommy John surgery in his right elbow in 2020, to get to Detroit. But five years after he was drafted by the Tigers with the No. 18 overall pick, he’ll take the mound to make a spot start.
Faedo, 26, had been scheduled to make his second start with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens on Tuesday before has was added as the 27th man on Detroit’s roster for the doubleheader. In four minor league appearances at Lakeland and Toledo this season, he has posted a 1.72 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP while striking out 20 and holding opponents to a .182 batting average. He has given up just 10 hits and three earned runs in 15 2/3 innings.
The Tigers (7-14) were off Monday after wrapping up a six-game road trip, where they were swept by the Twins and dropped two of three to the Dodgers. They’ll squeeze in the two-game tilt against the Pirates before heading to Houston for a four-game series against the Astros.
With Tuesday’s contest rained out, that means the Tigers will have a crammed schedule over the next month, with 30 games in 28 days. That arduous stretch will start with 17 games in 15 days before their next scheduled off day on May 19.
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