Of course TJ Friedl has a broken thumb

He’s back on the IL indefinitely.

The first pitch of Sunday afternoon’s game between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds departed the left hand of starting pitcher Kyle Harrison and arrived on the left hand of leadoff man TJ Friedl.

Friedl remained in the game to run the bases after writhing in pain, but exited quickly after the inning was over. The fear, post-replay, was that the pitch that smashed into his left thumb had broken it, an endgame that would be completely brutal given that Friedl had only returned a week earlier from a right wrist fracture that sidelined him for some 30 games.

We got the inevitably bad news on Monday evening prior to the Reds series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Friedl’s thumb, as was feared, is broken.

We’ll get the feel-good Jacob Hurtubise backstory for the next few weeks as Friedl tries to recover, though I don’t think that’s going to feel too good in the standings given the team’s other injuries, misgivings, and the schedule that’s staring them in the face.

This season has unraveled at a meteoric pace. If they don’t find a miracle quickly, it’s going to spiral completely out of control.