Cincinnati Reds rally to rout Pirates on day ignitor TJ Friedl lands on IL for 3rd time

A few hours after the Cincinnati Reds put leadoff man TJ Friedl on the injured list for the third time this season Monday – this time with a hamstring strain – a journeyman left-hander with a 4.47 career ERA retired the first nine Reds in order.

One inning later, the Reds scored more runs in an inning than they’d scored in a game in nearly two weeks and went on to rout the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-5.

Buckle up. It’s about to get feast, famine and flail again for the Reds lineup, who get another weeks-long test for a lineup that's been up and down all season – never more than when it was without its ignitor.

“It’s very tough to lose him. He’s a huge part of our lineup,” said Jonathan India, who had three hits Monday in Friedl’s usual leadoff spot. “I feel for him, just because it’s tough what he’s going through right now.

“All you can do is have his back and be there for him and just try to help him get healthy. Because we need him.”

Without Friedl the first six weeks of the season because of a wrist fracture, the Reds’ lineup bottomed out in May. He barely had a chance to get back in the lineup before a pitch broke the tip of his thumb in his sixth game back and sidelined him another two weeks.

The Reds were in last place by the time he returned from that one.

“It’s frustrating. It is,” said Friedl, whose 14-game tear coming off the IL the second time led the Reds to a 10-4 surge in which they averaged 5.5 runs a game.

“It just wasn’t getting any better,” Friedl said of the injury suffered on a diving play last week in Pittsburgh.

He missed two games and played through it over the weekend but estimates he never felt better than about 85-percent strength and after Sunday’s game scheduled an MRI for Monday morning.

“I wasn’t really 100-percent myself,” he said. “And that’s something I realized over the last couple days, that I can’t play 85 percent. Eighty-five percent is enough to run. But for me and who I am, I need to be 100.”

How the Cincinnati Reds deal with losing TJ Friedl

Friedl’s game is built on speed that led to an MLB-leading 17 bunt hits last year and that makes the centerfielder the Reds’ best outfield defender.

“Obviously, it’s tough losing TJ,” said manager David Bell, who figures to use India as his primary leadoff man in Friedl’s absence.

Even after losing their last three series, the Reds were 11-9 when Friedl played after returning from the second injury. They’re 25-32 in their other games this season during a season they’ve struggled to consistently score runs.

"I felt like I was getting in a groove, feeling really good," Friedl said.

When will TJ Friedl return?

Friedl expects to have the injury reassessed in two weeks, putting him and the team about a week from the All-Star break, which makes it an an exam that could determine whether he’s out for two weeks or a months – and that consequently could have an impact on the trade deadline, depending on how the lineup responds.

Elly De La Cruz, who delivered another jaw-dropping moment Monday with with a home run to the deck of the steamboat above centerfield, is on another hitting bender, and corner infielder Jeimer Candelario has been red-hot for more than a month.

But the Reds were expected by midweek to get their latest, final update on the status of Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s damaged wrist to determine whether he’ll need surgery for what’s already considered a season-ending injury.

And if last year’s rookie sensation Matt McLain (shoulder surgery) returns at all this season, it might be for only the final month or so, at best.

Are the Reds in better position now to withstand a temporary loss of Friedl than they were earlier in the season when more hitters were struggling?

India was ready to entertain that possibility, given the significance of Friedl's presence when he's in there every day.

"He’s a huge part of our lineup no matter what," India said.

Cincinnati Reds injury report, prognosis

The Reds originally considered putting Friedl on the IL before the weekend series against the Red Sox, Bell said, for the injury that was identified Monday as a strain of the area of the hamstring that connects to the adductor muscles in the groin.

But Friedl tested the leg daily, and he and the medical staff signed off on playing through it.

“Ultimately it was my call to put him in the lineup,” Bell said. “I hope I didn’t cause it to be worse. I don’t know. He’s very important to me. He’s important to our team. I can just hope at this point that he’s back two or three weeks from now.”

It doesn't make the moment feel any better to Friedl or the team.

“It’s just another thing that I’m going to get through,” he said. “It’s frustrating. But it’s something that you’ve just got to move past it and move forward.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds OF TJ Friedl on IL, Cincinnati beats Pittsburgh Pirates