Cincinnati Reds infielder Max Schrock was in the middle of the best game of his young MLB career.
In the bottom of the seventh inning of Monday’s 11-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, Schrock hit a line drive into left field. He sprinted into second base for a double, his third hit of the game.
Schrock already had a home run and a triple, and he was a single away from the cycle. But as he rounded the bases for that double, he suffered a calf injury for the second time in 2021.
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“We’ll know more tomorrow, but it could be an IL,” manager David Bell said. “Hopefully just 10 days, two weeks, something like that.”
Bell and a trainer checked on Schrock on the field, and Schrock left the game with a slight calf strain that happened as he was running the bases.
“I looked at him, I saw him stretching his calf out and knew right away,” Bell said. “(I was) hoping it was a cramp, but knowing that he had dealt with that in the past, I kind of did wonder right away if he strained it again.”
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Schrock competed for a spot on the Reds roster during spring training, but his spring was cut short due to a similar calf injury. And he had never had a game like the one he had Monday.
Entering the game, Schrock was a career .186 hitter in 43-at bats with one home run, one double and one RBI in MLB. Against the Phillies, Schrock was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, a triple and three RBI.
“Schrock, he’s a lot of fun to watch hit the baseball and take at-bats,” Reds shortstop Kyle Farmer said. “He started out, got the energy going in the dugout for us with that nice home run. He had a great day at the plate, hopefully he’s OK.”
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Schrock has spent most of the season in Triple-A with the Louisville Bats, but the Reds called him up most recently on May 20. Schrock found a role with three of Cincinnati’s starting infielders on the injured list, and he nearly doubled his number of career MLB at-bats during the last two weeks.
Now for the second time this year, Schrock will have to come back from a calf injury to earn a spot on the MLB roster.
“He has been through it before,” Bell said. “He actually did come back from it last time really quick, so we’re hoping for the best there.”
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