Terry Francona Gives Positive Update on Nick Lodolo's Wrist

Cincinnati Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo was cruising on Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Through three innings he had faced the minimum and looked as sharp as he has all season, but a scary moment in the fourth inning changed everything in an instant.

Leading off the top of the fourth, Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio hit a 107.6 mph comebacker that caught Lodolo's left wrist.

Lodolo winced in pain, but after the training staff checked him out, he chose to stay in.

He finished the inning, loading the bases before stranding all three runners with a strikeout and a flyout.

His final line was four scoreless innings, two hits, one walk and six strikeouts, but the stiffness kept him from coming back out for the fifth.

After the Reds dropped the game 2-0, manager Terry Francona delivered an encouraging update. Lodolo's X-rays came back clean and showed no fracture.

"Yeah, he did. He's OK," Francona said when asked if Lodolo got X-rays. "As long as they can keep the swelling out of there and it doesn't show up tomorrow in worse shape, he should be OK for his next start. We'll certainly keep our eyes on it."

Even with negative X-rays, there is reason for concern here.

This is Lodolo's pitching hand, and any lingering swelling could mess with his grip and his delivery in ways that don't show up on imaging.

The 28-year-old already missed the first five-plus weeks of the season with a blister on his left index finger, so the health of that hand has been an ongoing theme all year.

Francona acknowledged the bruising was bad, saying Lodolo's wrist was already turning black and blue before he left the mound.

The next couple of days will tell the Reds everything they need to know.

The Reds sit at 37-41 and are in last place in the NL Central, 11.5 games behind first-place Milwaukee.

Their pitching staff has taken more injury hits than almost any rotation in baseball this year.

Ace Hunter Greene has not pitched all season after undergoing elbow surgery in March, and Andrew Abbott is the only projected Opening Day starter to avoid the injured list.

That makes Lodolo one of the most important arms Cincinnati has.

He posted a 3.33 ERA with 156 strikeouts over 156.2 innings during a breakout 2025 and remains a building block for this staff.

He entered Tuesday at 2-2 with a 6.12 ERA across eight starts, but had been showing real improvement recently and Tuesday felt like a step forward before the comebacker cut things short.

If Lodolo can stay on the mound, the rotation looks a lot more stable heading into the second half.

If he can't, it only deepens a pitching crisis that has defined Cincinnati's 2026 season.