D-backs manager Kirk Gibson: Injuries are part of the game

The season is just two weeks old and already the Diamondbacks have had half a dozen players spend time on the disabled list.

“It’s just part of a baseball season,” manager Kirk Gibson said. “These things are going to come up.”

Lately, they’ve been coming up quite often.

Saturday, outfielder Jason Kubel became the sixth player shelved, placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left quadriceps.

“He’s been dealing with it since the second game in Milwaukee,” Gibson said. “He hit a pot hole…around third base. When his foot hit the grass, he stepped in a big hole there. It really jolted him.”

Gibson said Kubel “kind of felt it a little more than he has” while running the bases in the 8th inning Friday night.

“It’s a shame for the team,” Gibson said. “We’re going to the American League (for a three-game series with the New York Yankees next week) so it would be important to have him. We’ll go to battle with 25 guys that we can go with.”

With Kubel sidelined, fellow outfielder Cody Ross has been reinstated brought back from Triple-A Reno a day earlier than expected.

“He’s ready to go,” Gibson said.

Ross has not played in a game this year due to a strained left calf suffered in spring training. He appeared in seven rehab games between Single-A Visalia and Reno, going 4-for-19 (.211) with a double and four RBI.

Meanwhile, second baseman Aaron Hill was not in the lineup Saturday. He has not played since Tuesday, three games ago, when he was hit in the left hand by a pitch.

“You can walk around with what he’s got every day in life. What you guys do wouldn’t hurt you at all. You could probably write with no problem at all,” Gibson said. “(However), you put a bat in (your hand) and try to swing or check a swing, or something like that, it hurts. If you break a finger or you sprain a finger and you try to swing a bat, it really hurts. It’s hard to deal with.”

The Diamondbacks are still dealing with injuries to Willie Bloomquist (strained right rib muscle), Adam Eaton (strained left elbow), Didi Gregorius (strained right elbow) and Daniel Hudson (Tommy John surgery).

“It happens for everybody, just look around the league,” Gibson said of the number of injuries his team has suffered. “You play hard; you’re going to get dinged up.”

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