DENVER (AP) -Brian Fuentes, who lost his job as Colorado’s closer after blowing four straight saves, will miss the All-Star game because of a strained back muscle.
Fuentes said he felt discomfort in the left latissimus dorsi after some mop-up work at Houston on Sunday and was extra sore after his scoreless inning of work Tuesday night against the New York Mets at Coors Field.
“I thought I’d give it a day and I came back the next day and it was still sore,” Fuentes said Friday night. “So, we’re just day-to-day right now.”
He said the injury wasn’t related to his poor performance on the Rockies’ trip.
“No, it had nothing to do with that,” he said.
Fuentes, who saved 20 of his first 22 games, won’t be available until sometime after the All-Star break. He said he’ll still make the trip to San Francisco for the All-Star game.
“I wouldn’t miss that for anything,” said Fuentes, who was named to his third straight All-Star game in balloting that concluded before his bad stretch of games cost him his closer job.
Yet, he said he didn’t want to push things and endanger his recovery.
“I’ll just take more of a cautious route. What happens here is a little more important than the All-Star game. Not that it’s not important, but we’ve got to look toward the second half and get me 100 percent more so than maybe pushing me a little bit just to pitch in the All-Star game,” Fuentes said.
Fuentes expects to regain his role as the Rockies’ closer after the break.
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