Idaho Falls Chukars shortstop Anthony Mata recently missed two weeks due to injury. The Chukars, who got off to a hot start, have had a rash of injuries. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoSports.com IDAHO FALLS — The Idaho Falls Chukars have been playing shorthanded for the past couple of weeks. How shorthanded? According to manager Troy Percival, there have been occasions during this recent run of injury issues when he has penciled a lineup only to have to completely rebuild it after receiving more injury news. It happened Friday, when he learned shortly before first pitch that Jacob Jablonski was unavailable. “We’ve been dealing with, probably, more than our fair share of injuries,” Percival said. The Idaho Falls roster currently includes four players listed on the inactive list — and several others who, while not inactive, have been sidelined with shorter-term health issues. “There’s been days when I’ve put a lineup out there and every guy on the bench is incapable of playing,” Percival said. “But I will say this, I’ve got a bunch of grinders. Whoever I put out there, they will give you what they’ve got and play hard every day.” Percival explained that he preaches to his team “not to ride the wave.” By that, he means that the squad should never get too high or too low. He has also been open with the front office about the struggles that come with this type of injury bug. Percival told GM Chris Hall when the injuries started to pile up, that a skid was coming. “Everybody in this league is going to go through that at some point,” he said. Idaho Falls has been going through it. In just over a week, the Chukars have gone from the top spot in the Pioneer Baseball League with a 15-3 record, to being 18-9 — though they have slid just three spots in the standings. But things have been trending in the right direction, with the return of shortstop Anthony Mata, who started the season among the PBL’s most productive bats only to hit the inactive list for two weeks. He has been back for about a week now and is beginning to return to his offensive form — homering in Friday’s win. RELATED | Chukars end slide behind Grosjean, timely offense With three pitchers currently injured, the Chukars are especially shorthanded in the bullpen. In an attempt to remedy that issue, they made a pair of moves Thursday, cutting two struggling hurlers in favor of two new arms. RELATED | Chukars, looking to end slide, make pair of roster moves One of those two pitchers, Jorge Romero, will start Saturday. And though he is an unknown commodity — at least to the coaching staff — Percival is thankful simply for a guy capable of giving the team some innings and taking some of the load off an already overtaxed bullpen. “This ought to help, but we still need to find one more guy who can go deep into a game,” the skipper said. And more help is on the way, in the form of stud reliever Ricky Tibbett. Tibbett came out of the gates strong, striking out six while allowing just one earned run in 7-1/3 innings (1.23 ERA) across six appearances. Despite his having last appeared in a game on June 1, Tibbett is the Chukars team leader in saves (3) He is throwing pain-free on flat grouond out to 75 feet, according to Percival, and could be back on the field in as soon as two weeks. In that some timeframe, Percival said, the Chukars — specifically in the bullpen — operating at around 80-90%, at which point they will be “tough to beat.” The post Injuries have been a crutch during Chukars’ recent scuffle, but a healthy squad is just around the corner appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com