After Sonny Gray threw his first warm-up pitch prior to the fourth inning Tuesday, he knew he was in trouble.
He felt a pain in his right groin, a pain that he's never felt before. The same thing happened on his second warm-up pitch. His third one was his last one, shaking his head afterward.
Catcher Tucker Barnhart walked the mound after the last warm-up pitch, along with trainer Tomas Vera and pitching coach Derek Johnson. Gray chatted with Vera for about 45 seconds and then began walking to the dugout.
Gray left Tuesday's start with right groin tightness. An MRI is scheduled for Wednesday morning to determine the severity.
"I felt good," Gray said. "I felt in control. I was in a good spot. Then I just felt that and I knew that I wasn’t … I wanted to continue to go, but in my head, I was just trying to think, this is one of those moments that they always say, ‘Don’t make it worse. Don’t make it worse.’ Then that was that."
It was a tough way for Gray to end his evening because he was pitching well against the Milwaukee Brewers in their series opener at Great American Ball Park. He struck out five across three scoreless innings, permitting two hits and one hit batsman.
Gray said he wasn't sure how severe the injury was because it's a new injury for him.
"I don’t know," he said. "I don’t think it’s bad, bad, bad. 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. It took a lot to do that."
The Reds already have one starter, Jeff Hoffman, on the 10-day injured list and Vladimir Gutierrez filled his spot in the rotation. Hoffman could begin a rehab assignment by the end of the month.
If Gray is placed on the injured list, the Reds have Triple-A Louisville starters Tony Santillan and Riley O'Brien on the 40-man roster. Santillan has a 1-3 record and 2.51 ERA through six starts with 45 strikeouts and 12 walks in 32 1/3 innings. O'Brien is 1-1 with a 3.06 ERA in six starts, striking out 35 and walking 15 in 32 2/3 innings.
Gray started the season on the injured list because of a back sprain, which bothered him throughout spring training. He's posted a 1-4 record and 3.42 ERA through 10 starts.
"The first thing in my head was like, the smart thing would be to stop," Gray said. "The smart thing to do would be to stop, so you’re not missing eight, 10 weeks here. The competitiveness wants to keep going, because I think I can pitch just kind of half-dragging my backside through, but then there’s a lot of repercussions that come with that.
"I’m hoping that it’s a super small thing, and I can be back. Hopefully, we can look back at this in however long it is – I don’t think crazy, crazy long, but however long it is – and say that just making this one decision maybe saved myself four or five starts in the future."
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