Injury news: Colorado Rockies lose Elias Díaz to left wrist sprain

Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Díaz, coming off his best month of the season at the plate, has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist sprain.

The injury move pushes Brian Serven to the top of the Colorado Rockies depth chart while Dom Nuñez, who was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque on May 17, has been called back up to take the place of the 31-year-old Diaz on the active roster.

Díaz, who slashed .298/.385/.474 in 17 July games, has been dealing with the injury for some time, Rockies manager Bud Black said on Thursday morning. However, in Wednesday night’s home loss against the St. Louis Cardinals, Díaz had an eighth-inning at-bat where he looked uncomfortable after one swing, then grimaced in pain after striking out. He returned to the dugout and Serven came on to catch the ninth.

Black said that the injury for Díaz involves a ligament at the top of the hand but not extending to the fingers.

“The second swing and what resulted from that is what we’re concerned about,” Black told reporters before the game before the official diagnosis was released.

Serven has been a positive in what has been a tough season for the Rockies, with his OPS+ of 86 just ahead of the 78 posted by Diaz. In his first 38 games of MLB action since being called up to take the place of the struggling Nuñez on the roster, Serven is slashing .241/.307/.388 with four home runs and 12 RBI.

Nunez, meanwhile, is slashing .235/.354/.396 in 187 at-bats spanning 47 games for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes. It’s an improvement over the .143/.278/.179 slash line he posted in 28 at-bats covering 12 games with the Rockies before being sent down.

In 109 career games for the Rockies, the 27-year-old Nunez has a career slash line of .183/.284/.380 and has hit 12 home runs, 10 of which came last season.