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Cincinnati Reds Lose Important Relief Pitcher to Nerve-wracking Injury as Playoff Race Thickens

With the Cincinnati Reds now even for the third and final wild card spot in the National League, they've lost valuable reliever Tejay Antone to injury.

Brady Farkas

Cincinnati Reds Lose Important Relief Pitcher to Nerve-wracking Injury as Playoff Race Thickens
Cincinnati Reds Lose Important Relief Pitcher to Nerve-wracking Injury as Playoff Race Thickens /
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The Cincinnati Reds have won three straight games to draw even in the race for the third and final wild card spot in the National League. They are 76-71 and are now tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for that spot.

As the Reds chase that first playoff berth since the 2020 season, they are dealing with a scary injury to reliever Tejay Antone.

Per Gordon Wittenmyer, who covers the Reds:

TeJay Antone left with right elbow "discomfort," Reds say. Returned less than two weeks ago from second Tommy John surgery to pitch for first time since Aug. 24, 2021.

Given the injury history of Antone, it's understandable to be concerned about his career. It's also just incredibly unfortunate for a guy who has been out of baseball for nearly two years to be going through injury yet again.

There is no official word yet on Antone's status but more is sure to come out in the coming days.

He had appeared in five games for the Reds this year, pitching to a 1.59 ERA. Prior to getting injured, he was an incredibly valuable piece of the Reds' bullpen. He had a 2.80 ERA in 13 games during the COVID 2020 season and then had a 2.14 ERA in 2021 over 23 games before getting hurt.

The Reds will wrap up a series on Thursday afternoon with the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. ET as Derek Law (CIN) pitches against Reese Olson.

Law is 4-5 while Olson is 3-7.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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