Before the start of the fourth inning, Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Sonny Gray decided to take one more warmup pitch.
At the time, Gray was on track to have one of his best starts of the season. He had five strikeouts through three innings. But after that final throw, Gray signaled for the trainer, left the game with a groin injury and turned a one-run lead over to the Reds bullpen against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.
Two pitches later, the score was tied and the Brewers were on their way to snapping the Reds four-game winning streak. After the Reds bullpen allowed five runs, Milwaukee beat Cincinnati, 5-1, in front of 11,897 at Great American Ball Park.
With the loss, the Reds missed an opportunity to get to .500 for the first time since May 16.
“(Gray) had it all working,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Very frustrating. It is one game. The bigger concern now is hoping he's OK and it's nothing serious, we can get him back before too long. That's where our minds are right now.”
Gray said he had never dealt with a groin injury before, but he could tell he was hurt right when it happened. After a few warmup pitches, Gray winced, called over a team trainer and left the game.
“I don’t think it’s bad, bad, bad,” Gray said. “I do think if I would have continued to throw, it maybe would have got to a point where it would’ve got very uncomfortable. I’ve never walked off the field like that, so that was a first.”
