Cincinnati Reds lose reliever Brent Suter long-term with muscle tear near back of shoulder

WASHINGTON – If the Cincinnati Reds are going to climb back into playoff position in the National League, they're going to do it the hard way.

Well, harder than it looked Friday at least.

The Reds learned on Saturday they'll be without one of their most important relief pitchers for an extended period after a muscle tear behind his shoulder was discovered on left-hander Brent Suter's MRI results.

"He's obviously been huge for us, especially in length situations," general manager Brad Meador said. "It's disappointing, more for him than anyone.

"We obviously still have two lefties here," Meador said. "But he was different in that he could give you length against both right- and left-handed hitters."

The club says it's too early to know whether it is a season-ending injury, but the recovery process starts with a prescribed four weeks of no throwing, with a buildup beginning after that. Ten weeks remain in the season.

Suter, who said he felt the area near his lat "knot up" on a warmup pitch before facing two batters Friday, said he was surprised to learn he'd suffered a tear but said he was optimistic he could return sooner than the usual estimate for the injury.

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“The first hour of hearing the news, I was really beat up about it, really emotional,” said Suter, who came back from a supposed six-to-eight-week oblique injury in three weeks last season. “Everyone was coming up to me, giving me a lot of love, which meant a lot.

“I was able to kind of change the mindset here in the last little bit of time, changing ‘woe is me’ to ‘let’s do something about it. This thing can’t hold me down.’

“I’m going to try to get back to the active team as quickly as I can and attack this rehab head on,” he said. “My body’s been good at bouncing back and coming back better. That’s the plan here.”

Meanwhile, the Reds are without their staff leader in relief innings and one of the most versatile pitchers in their bullpen as they struggle to dig out of an early season hole and become relevant in a mud-bogged scrum of a National League wild-card "race."

Suter, a Moeller High grad signed last winter as a free agent, has been one of the bullpen's steadiest performers, producing a 3.68 ERA and making three starts as an opener, including twice in wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers as the designated weapon against Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

“He’s a big part of our team,” manager David Bell said. “There’s not a situation where I would feel uncomfortable having Brent on the mound. He’s just really good at what he does. Of course, it hurts our team. And I feel for him individually because he wants to be on the field, helping us win.”

Right-hander Casey Legumina was recalled from the minors to take Suter's place in the bullpen, which is down to two left-handers (Sam Moll and Justin Wilson).

Legumina was 3-2 with a 3.35 ERA in 26 games for AAA Louisville, covering 40 1/3 innings. He made one appearance with the Reds earlier this season, allowing one run in one inning.

Suter left Friday's game in the sixth inning after having faced the final batter of the fifth, sought out the trainer to loosen the shoulder between innings, then retired the first batter of the sixth. At that point his velocity was down and his delivery appeared slightly compromised, but he told Bell and pitching coach Derek Johnson he could get the last two outs of the inning.

“But they took me out, which was probably a good thing,” he said, “because (the MRI) showed that (the Teres major muscle) was still intact. A couple more pitches, and I might have fully torn this thing and had to have surgery, which ends the season.

“The news wasn’t great, but it could have been worse.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds lose reliever Brent Suter long-term with muscle tear near back of shoulder