The Reds have placed right-hander Sonny Gray on the 10-day injured list with a right mid-back strain, the team announced. Sal Romano has been selected to the roster in his stead. The IL placement is retroactive to Friday.
Gray has continued to shine in his second season in Cincinnati. Through 45.2 innings in nine starts, the right-hander has put up a 3.94 ERA/2.93 FIP with a career-best 30.6% strikeout rate. His 5.8 fWAR since the start of 2019 ranks thirteenth league-wide, a turnaround from a pair of down seasons with the Yankees. The Reds didn’t announce a timetable for his return, but there’s obviously not much time remaining for Gray to make it back in 2020. With just fifteen days left in the season, it’s possible this brings his campaign to an end. It’s certainly another blow to the 20-26 Reds’ faint hopes of mounting a playoff run.
The Reds waived the hard-throwing Romano over the winter, and he’ll now be making his first appearance on the MLB roster this season. Originally a starting pitcher, Romano moved to the Cincinnati bullpen full-time in 2019, where he put up a 7.71 ERA in 16.1 innings.