​Lefty Nick Lodolo pitched well on Saturday night against the Chicago Cubs, right up until the moment he didn’t—a moment that happened to line up with a meatball to catcher Carson Kelly that he launched into a 410-foot homer over the center-field wall. It turned out the blast came as Lodolo was dealing with yet another blister on his left index finger, and it ended up being the final pitch of the game. He exited in frustration, and on Sunday the Reds placed him on the 15-day injured list to deal with the issue once again. Chase Petty was recalled to fill the roster spot.
It’s a real bummer because Lodolo had started to look more like himself of late. Over his last four starts spanning 20.0 innings, he had allowed just 14 hits while posting 18 strikeouts and a 1.35 ERA. Blisters don’t just hurt; they affect which pitches a pitcher can throw comfortably, and that can fundamentally alter how a pitcher approaches every hitter. If you can’t trust your slider to act the way you want, or you feel a twinge when you try to drive it off the back foot, you lose the ability to attack hitters the way you otherwise would.
We’ve already seen how long it took Brady Singer to regain his groove after his own blister issue. Now we’ll see whether Lodolo can jump back into a solid groove after the All-Star break or if it takes him longer to reestablish his typical pitch-mix as he fights through this setback.
Rhett Lowder will presumably slide back into the rotation in Lodolo’s place, which provides a solid contingency plan. Chase Petty, recalled to take Lodolo’s roster spot, is likely to assume a late-inning relief role for the time being, much as he did before being optioned. This setup gives the Reds a workable bridge while Lodolo works through the blister and tries to get back to the form that had him thriving in recent outings, with the hope that a smoother springboard comes once he’s fully healthy again.