Reyes Moronta Exits With Acute Shoulder Strain

11:15 pm: Giants manager Bruce Bochy informed reporters, including Crowley, that Moronta has an acute right shoulder strain and that the team believes the pitcher has avoided an elbow injury (link).

10:23 pm: Reporters following tonight’s game between the Giants and Padres were aghast at the sight of Reyes Moronta falling to the ground after delivering a 97.5-mph fastball to San Diego’s Luis Urias. Moronta was removed from the mound with the help of a trainer while clutching his right arm. Kerry Crowley described the optics as “really bad”, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle speculated that Moronta was “seriously hurt”, and Grant Brisbee of The Athletic simply summed up the scene as “awful”.

While more official word will presumably follow the conclusion of tonight’s action, there are surely still some white knuckles around the situation in the Bay Area tonight. At 66-68, the Giants don’t figure to extend their wild midsummer run at the Wild Card, but Moronta has been widely viewed as a major part of the SF bullpen moving forward. Since debuting in 2017, Moronta has used his blazing fastball to subdue hitters with consistency. Over 128.1 innings to this point in his career, the righty owns a 2.66 ERA and an 11.22 K/9 mark–though a lack of strike zone management (5.05 career BB/9) has always threatened to undermine his potential.

The Giants, of course, traded away both Mark Melancon and Sam Dyson at this year’s trade deadline, opening an opportunity for Moronta to continue to slide towards the first chair in the team’s bullpen. Further updates to Moronta’s status will be provided at first opportunity.