Cincinnati Reds place Ben Lively on injured list, deepening need for pitching help

Cincinnati Reds starter Ben Lively has a bum pec, and it’s sent him to the 15-day injured list as of Saturday afternoon. That means he joins Nick Lodolo, Hunter Greene, Connor Overton, Justin Dunn, Vlad Gutierrez, Tejay Antone, Tony Santillan, Derek Law, and Casey Legumina in the team’s pitching infirmary, with Graham Ashcraft having only just emerged from said list earlier today.

The Reds announced the IL decision, though they’ve yet to announce who will take Lively’s spot on the roster.

They also haven’t yet announced who will start tomorrow, given that it was initially slated to be Lively’s day.

Ashcraft, I’ll add, has allowed the most earned runs in all of baseball since May 7th - 41 earnies, in all - and he hasn’t even pitched for the last 16 days. He also leads that list by a hefty 7 ER over Sandy Alcantara and Jordan Lyles, respectively. Luke Weaver is tied for fourth on that list with 32 ER allowed in that time.

The Cincinnati Reds are therefore leaning on rookie lefties Andrew Abbott, Brandon Williamson, three wings, and nine prayers while their offense continues to power them through this win streak. The team’s overall 4.93 ERA ranks as the fourth worst in the game right now, while their starters’ collective ERA of 5.81 ranks third (ahead of only the Rockies of Coors Field and the potential worst team of all time in Oakland).

They need help, and they need it pronto. They might get help from Connor Phillips tomorrow, but they need way more than even he can provide. The team deserves it, the fans deserve it, and while we all hope the rest of the staff gets healthy soon, it’s hard to watch half a house crumble while the other half has been put together so incredibly well.