Johnny Cueto placed on DL with elbow inflammation

Just when things were starting to look up for the Giants, with a winning record for the first month in nearly two years and good news about Madison Bumgarner’s recovery, the injury train comes barreling through town once again. Leaving Joe Panik and now Johnny Cueto in its wake.

Cueto was placed on the 10-day disabled list for inflammation in his pitching elbow. This was done retroactively to April 29th and is the corresponding move for Andrew Suarez. Suarez was called up to pitch Tuesday night, due to the double-header over the weekend, and could be sticking around for a while.

Cueto was off to the best start in his career, despite an earlier and unrelated stint on the DL for his ankle, with a 0.84 ERA, the best in the league. However, it’s reported that he’d been dealing with elbow discomfort going back at least two starts.

Cueto has yet to have any tests on his arm or see team doctors, and the Giants are still coming to terms with what this means for him, and for the next month or more until Bumgarner returns.

This leaves the already short-staffed team looking at a much different May than they had anticipated. With this news, and with Jeff Samardzija struggling in his first few starts, the Giants have no ace in the rotation as they get ready to travel for 10 games on the east coast.