The Rays injury curse continues: Jake Faria to the DL, Vidal Nuno recalled

Sometimes, the baseball gods are not kind to a given team, especially when it comes to injuries. That is especially the case with the Rays this season.

Before today, Kevin Kiermaier, Wilson Ramos, Jose de Leon, Nathan Eovaldi, and Brent Honeywell (and others) have been injured with various ailments. The injury bug has led the Rays from being fringe contenders before the season started to struggling to make it through each game.

Unfortunately, it looks like they are now down yet another pitcher.

It is always special cause for concern when a pitcher goes on the disabled list because the mind always drifts towards potential arm trouble. However, unlike Honeywell and de Leon, Jake Faria has dodged the dreaded Tommy John surgery, but is going to be out for a bit with an oblique injury. Obliques can be finicky, lingering injuries but are far less serious than some alternatives. Faria has struggled in 2018 as he has accumulated -0.5 rWAR with a 5.48 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in 10 starts so far this season. However, the loss of Faria puts significant pressure on the Rays’ already very thin rotation.

In his place, the Rays have called up Vidal Nuno from Triple-A Durham. Nuno’s MLB service time has not gone particularly well in the past as he sports a career 4.29 ERA in 42 starts and 138 appearances overall. He has been pretty good this season in AAA for what it is worth as he has a 3.57 ERA and has struck out 37 batters against just three walks in 40.1 innings this year.