Reds closer Emilio Pagán (hamstring) clears 'big hurdle' on rehab road
· Yahoo Sports
ST. LOUIS – A frustrating, painful season for the Cincinnati Reds closer improved some before the Reds opened a weekend series against the Cardinals when Emilio Pagán joined the team on the road for the first time since suffering a months-long hamstring injury.
Exactly one month after being carted from the mound at Wrigley Field after aggravating a mild injury he’d pitched through, Pagán ran on the field for the first time since the injury.
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Actually, it was more of a jog, he said, but “it’s a big step, a big hurdle.
“I didn’t have any issues,” he added. “Felt good.”
Pagán is still at least a month away from reaching the original finish line for returning from the injured list, but he remains optimistic he can speed up the process, in part because he never stopped throwing — even flinging the ball from a seated position before he was allowed to put weight on the injured right leg.
“Throwing’s the easiest part right now,” said Pagán, who joined the team on the road for the first time since the injury and said he expects to stay with the team until it’s time for a minor-league rehab assignment.
He hasn’t thrown from a mound since the injury but said he expects to do that by the end of next week.
And then?
“Once I get to the mound, at least where my head’s at – Obviously, I’ve got to defer to our doctors – but where my head’s at I shouldn’t need too much of a buildup time,” he said. “Now they’re gonna fight me on that, and I understand. Because nobody wants this to happen again.
“But my whole idea with not stopping throwing when I was throwing from a seated position was so that I could hopefully knock some time off the backside once I do get to a mound and start doing my higher intensity throws.”
The Reds can use any quality bullpen help they can find, the sooner the better. The Reds’ bullpen performance has been among the worst in the majors since the start of May.
Pagán, who had a career-high 32 saves and 2.88 ERA last year, had righted his season after an April 1 clunker, until his hamstring tightened up the first time in mid-April.
When he suffered the more severe injury May 5 in Chicago, it was considered an 8-to-10-week injury.
“I was thinking as fast as possible the whole time,” he said. “It’s my job to push to go as fast as I can. And it’s their job to hold me back so that I don’t re-injure myself.
“It’s going to be give-and-take on both sides. But I’m going to be pushing as fast as I can.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds closer Emilio Pagán (hamstring) clears 'big hurdle' on rehab road