Johnny Cueto exits Wednesday’s game with apparent injury

Update: It’s a tight lat for Johnny Cueto, which feels like very good news.

Johnny Cueto was on cruise control on Wednesday afternoon for the San Francisco Giants, mowing down batter after batter against the Cincinnati Reds. And then the sixth inning rolled around, and Cueto appeared to suffer an injury.

It’s not clear what the injury is, because Cueto didn’t show much discomfort, or favor any part of his body. But after blowing a 93 mph fastball past Nick Castellanos, Cueto immediately turned to the bullpen and gave the “I’m done” signal, running his fingers across his throat.

Trainer Dave Groeschner came to the mound, and after just a few words, Cueto walked off the field.

It’s hard to know what to make of an injury revealing itself like this. It’s always scary when athletes takes themselves out, because you know they’re prone to push through pain. If an athlete immediately knows they’re done, it’s usually because something is clearly wrong.

That said, given Cueto’s lack of emotion or visible pain, that something could be a blister or an illness, or something else that is only a short-term issue. He also ran out a bunt attempt very hard earlier in the game, so he could have some lingering lower body discomfort.

Either way, we’ll know soon. Fingers crossed.