Arizona catcher Montero will rest groin for a couple of days
Catcher Miguel Montero was held out of Arizona's starting lineup Tuesday and is not expected to play Wednesday, manager Kirk Gibson said, but the Diamondbacks do not believe his strained left groin is DL-threatening.
Montero, who suffered the injury while making a quick move after a foul popup, was replaced by pinch hitter Henry Blanco in the sixth inning Monday. Blanco had three hits and an RBI and threw out two runners attempting to steal second base in an 8-7 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday, and Konrad Schmidt was recalled from Class AAA Reno to add catching depth.
"We don't think it's 15 days, but at the same time we don't want to push him. We'll take a couple of days and see how he progresses," manager Kirk Gibson said.
Montero leads the D-backs with 21 RBI, three more than left fielder Jason Kubel, while hitting .255 with five doubles and one home run. Montero has five hits and five RBI in his last six games, and his two-run double at Kansas City broke a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning for a 6-4 victory.
"I didn't feel anything pop, thank God. It was just kind of a cramp. I felt a knot, a little tightness. Early in the season, you don't want it to get even worse. They've worked on it, and it felt a lot better right away. Just take it step by step," Montero said. "I maybe needed to hydrate a little more. We just came from Kansas City, where it was really humid. Probably a day or two, I don't think any more than that."
Schmidt was hitting .274 with three home runs and 14 RBI in 31 games at Reno. He made his debut with the D-backs in 2010 and was a midseason Pacific Coast League All-Star at Reno in 2011, when he led the PCL by throwing out 28 percent of potential base stealers.
