D-backs’ Lamb to be re-evaluated, won’t join team on road trip

After it was expected he would join the team for the upcoming road trip, Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Jake Lamb will not be on the roster in Philadelphia.

“He has some tendinitis in his right elbow, he had an MRI and it showed a little bit inflammation and for me, this is a no-brainer to give him a little bit of rest,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said after the team’s 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. “He’s just too important to this ballclub to force anything.

“Through his intensity, the work habits and all the good things that he’s doing to get back here as quickly as possible, this may have caught up to him. Like I said, we want to make sure he’s comfortable and 100 percent healthy so if we need to wait a little bit more time to reaccess this, we’re going to do it.”

The plan is for Lamb to be re-evaluated on Wednesday.

On April 2, the third baseman was seen on two occasions favoring his left shoulder. He dove for a foul ball in the ninth inning and later scored the game-tying run, sliding into home plate in the bottom of the 15th inning.

Lamb was put on the 10-day disabled list with a sprained left AC joint the following day.

Before his injury, Lamb was on a fast pace to start the 2018 season, batting .278 with 5 RBI in four games.

But as much as Lamb’s presence elevates the team, the D-backs continue to roll, winning their seventh straight series to start the season — the first team to do so since the 2003 San Francisco Giants.

A.J. Pollock and Paul Goldschmidt have picked up most of the slack in his absence, with Goldschmidt hitting safely in 10 of his last 12 games, while Pollock is leading the team in homers (5) and RBI (16).

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