Luke Weaver placed on injured list with elbow inflammation

The Diamondbacks placed right-hander Luke Weaver on the 10-day injured list Sunday with elbow inflammation, the third time in the past four seasons he has missed time with an arm issue.

The extent of his latest injury will be determined once Weaver undergoes an MRI exam, manager Torey Lovullo said, adding that the club opted not to take any chances with him after he reported feeling tightness in his elbow on Saturday.

Weaver, who was bumped from the rotation at the end of spring training, pitched in relief for the first time in his Diamondbacks career on Thursday, giving up one run on three hits in two-thirds of an inning. More alarmingly, his velocity was down, sitting at just 92.4 mph, down from his season average of 93.6 mph as a starter last year.

Weaver walked off the mound during a start in San Francisco three years ago and was subsequently diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament and a strained flexor mass. Last year, he missed significant time with a shoulder injury that was diagnosed as a subscapularis strain.

Taking his place on the roster was left-hander Kyle Nelson, whom the Diamondbacks claimed off waivers from Cleveland in November. Lovullo said Nelson was “one of the last strong considerations” the team had late in spring training. He then turned in two solid appearances in Triple-A Reno to open the season.

Ahmed progressing

Shortstop Nick Ahmed sounded encouraged when discussing the state of his right shoulder, saying the two cortisone shots he received in late March have helped him turn a corner.

“It’s way better than it was two weeks ago,” Ahmed said.

He has been hitting and throwing since early last week, and he hopes he can begin taking at-bats in extended spring training games at Salt River Fields this week.

Given the amount of time he has missed, he probably won’t be back for either of the next two series — the Diamondbacks host the Astros for two games this week before going to New York to face the Mets next weekend — and might miss the entire upcoming road trip, as well.

“I unfortunately didn’t get to play in a lot of spring training games,” Ahmed said. “Probably taking it a little bit slower than if I had a full slate of games in spring.”

Lovullo said is Ahmed further along in his recovery than outfielder Jordan Luplow, who is out with an oblique strain.

Another look

Lovullo said the thing he regretted most about Saturday night’s 5-2 loss was not challenging a possible hit-by-pitch with Sergio Alcantara at the plate. He said he viewed the sequence of events as a “lesson learned.”

With a runner on first in the eighth, Alcantara appeared to be narrowly grazed by an inside fastball from Padres right-hander Steven Wilson. The pitch was ruled not to have hit him, and Lovullo said the bench then yelled to ask Alcantara if had hit him.

“He shook his head no,” Lovullo said.

By the time the dugout phone rang with word from inside that the pitch appeared to hit him, play had already resumed.

“My instinct was to stop the game,” Lovullo said. “He said no and I trusted him. I will always trust the player in that situation, but … we’re going to slow the game down and ask for some help on that. That was on me.”

Short hop

Lovullo said before Sunday’s game that the plan was to remain in rotation despite the two off days this week, at least as it pertained to the first three starters in his rotation. That means left-hander Madison Bumgarner will start Wednesday vs. the Astros with right-handers Merrill Kelly and Zach Davies starting Friday and Saturday in New York.

*Rookie Cooper Hummel collected his first career hit, a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth. “I was just trying to put together good at-bats,” Hummel said. “If it happened, it happened. If it didn’t, it didn’t. I’ve been having good at-bats, so I wasn’t too worried that it was going to come eventually.”

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.