Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher John Lamb wore a protective black glove on his left hand Monday in the clubhouse at Great American Ball Park.
One day after jamming his thumb while hitting against the Milwaukee Brewers, Lamb felt better but didn’t yet know if he would be able make his next start Saturday in Philadelphia.
“It’s calmed down a little bit, but it’s still sore,” Lamb said. “It’s a little bit of both worlds.”
Lamb suffered a strained thumb when he connected with an inside pitch. He allowed one run in the first four innings Sunday but left in the top of the fifth. The bullpen allowed four runs in the next four innings, and the Reds lost 5-4.
“I’ve never had this before,” Lamb said. “When I woke up today, I just thought to myself, ‘How is it feeling? Is it feeling any better?’ If I was feeling anything like I was today yesterday, I believe I could have continued to pitch. I’m happy with that. Hopefully, this doesn’t get me off track from anything moving forward. Certainly I have nothing to go off of from the past, so I’m just going to day to day tell these guys how I’m doing and hope it gets better.”
Hometown support: The Reds promoted relief pitcher Layne Somsen from Triple-A Louisville before the start of a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Somsen is from Yankton, S.D., a city with a population of 14,454.
When Somsen pitches, he will be the 39th player born in South Dakota to pitch in the big leagues. He would be the first Yankton native to play in the majors.
“I think there’s probably quite a few people following me,” Somsen said. “There aren’t many professional baseball players from South Dakota.”
Short stay: When the Reds added Somsen to the roster, they sent outfielder Kyle Waldrop back to Louisville one day after he was promoted to take the place of outfielder Scott Schebler.
Manager Bryan Price said the Reds intended to keep Waldrop for a couple of weeks and get him a start or two and told him that when he informed him they were sending back to the minors.
“I don’t want him sitting here for a month or six weeks,” Price said, “picking up two or three pinch hits a week and a start every 10 days. That’s not going to help his development. The experience here helps, but playing here helps more, or playing every day in Triple-A. After yesterday, after a four-inning start and shredding the bullpen again, it’s essential to get the eighth reliever up here.”