CINCINNATI — Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner wasn’t expecting further testing to reveal a small fracture in his right hand after he was hit by a pitch Thursday, but that was the diagnosis he got.
The injury hadn’t been nearly as painful as his fractured wrist in 2019, which he also suffered when a pitch up and in hit his right hand on a checked swing.
‘‘[2019] was terrible; I couldn’t use my hand the next couple [of] days,’’ Hoerner said before the Cubs’ 4-3 loss Saturday to the Reds. ‘‘Completely different scenario. And, from my own perspective, I guess that’s why I was a little surprised. The symptoms presented so differently.’’
The two doctors the Cubs consulted were comfortable with Hoerner resuming play when the pain and swelling subsided, manager Craig Counsell said. There is little risk that doing so would displace the fracture. But that leaves the Cubs with a decision to make about whether to put Hoerner on the 10-day injured list in the coming days.
The Cubs’ injuries have come in bunches this season. After an onslaught in the first month and a half, it has been three weeks since the Cubs have put a player on the IL.
Hoerner was hit on the hand in the series opener Thursday. On Friday, right fielder Seiya Suzuki took a throw off his left side while stealing second base in the first inning. He said he felt his left oblique tighten a little during a plate appearance in the fifth.
‘‘From previous injuries that I’ve overcome before, I just wanted to take the most precautionary way of preventing big injuries from happening,’’ Suzuki said through an interpreter Friday. ‘‘So I decided to come out of the game.’’
Suzuki has strained obliques on both sides in the last two years, but Counsell said he was confident Suzuki didn’t have another oblique injury.
‘‘Essentially, just a bruise,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘It’s just affecting the muscles that are on the swing. So it’s not an oblique. It’s from getting hit last night, and he got hit on that side earlier in the week.’’
Suzuki joined Hoerner on the bench Saturday, but Counsell said he was optimistic Suzuki would return ‘‘in a day or two.’’
When Hoerner will be ready to return to the lineup — likely playing through some pain when he does — is harder to predict.
‘‘Right now, we have some question whether that’s in a 10-day mark or whether we just kind of play this day-by-day,’’ Counsell said.
Hoerner is able to run the bases, as he showed when he entered the game Friday as a pinch runner in the ninth inning. And he said he was confident he could throw, but he hasn’t tested that since Thursday. Swinging a bat has presented some challenges, but he said he was feeling better Saturday than he did the day before.
‘‘As far as day-to-day pain, that is something that you can make worse, unfortunately,’’ Hoerner said. ‘‘So being aware of just managing that. . . . Making sure that I come back at a time that’s as soon as possible but also in a place that’s going to allow me to be a good version of myself and not deal with something that lasts for weeks or months on end.’’
In Hoerner’s absence the last two games, David Bote has played second base. But the Cubs will have to weigh their lack of middle-infield depth on the roster as they decide whether to put Hoerner on the IL.
‘‘People say things like, ‘If it was later in the year, maybe you push it,’ ’’ Hoerner said. ‘‘It’s tough to say those things because I feel like all games are pretty much created equal. And as we saw last year, when seasons come down to one or two games, a lot of times these games are just as important. But you also have to [consider] the long term.’’