John Fay

jfay@enquirer.com

Jay Bruce will make his professional debut at first base tonight.

A lot of things went into the move. But it all adds up to one more Band-Aid to try to cover up the hole Joey Votto leaves because of his knee/quad injury. Votto is on the active list as of now. He was examined at Beacon Orthopedic Monday. Reds manager Bryan Price did not have the results yet.

"We're doing some extensive testing," Price said. "Obviously, it got to the point where he could play on it, but we weren't able to maintain the strength and eliminate the majority of the soreness. It's weaker. It's getting more and more uncomfortable to play. It got to the point where it's very difficult for him to compete.

"We certainly don't want to regress. We felt the need to look at it much deeper."

Price does not see it as season-ending.

"I'm fairly confident it surrounds the issue with the quad," Price said. "I don't know the extent. However, we would like to expect optimistically he'll play this season. We just don't know if this is going to be a DL for sure."

The Reds got to Bruce playing first by process of elimination. Votto wasn't available. Backup Brayan Pena is on paternity leave. Todd Frazier, who played first Sunday, was needed at third tonight because Zack Cozart is getting a night off and Ramon Santiago, who played third Sunday, is needed at shortstop.

"We knew we weren't going to have Joey today and we don't have Pena," Price said. "We don't really have a bunch of true first basemen here. Jay's been taking ground balls over there. It helps him quite a bit with his outfield play.

"He has some history there. It's not a lot and it's not in pro ball. He looks athletic enough to do it. What we do have is a surplus of outfielders. It gives us a chance to get (Skip) Schumaker and (Ryan) Ludwick in there."

Bruce playing first facilitates that.

"A lot of it is trying to figure out what our options are if we don't have Joey long-term or if there's a period of time he would miss," Price said. "There's a chance that could be the case. We have to look in house what our options are there.

"I don't think you'll see Jay there often. But it does allow to use our bench players a little bit more...There's not shortcuts to right answers."

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Bruce was all for the move.

"Jay's showed a great willingness to do it, a great commitment to whatever it takes to be successful," Price said. "That's attitude we want here."

Bruce played first base exclusively until he was 16 years old. He hasn't played since he was 17.

"It feels like I've played it before," Bruce said. "But this is major leagues. Major League Baseball is the best in the world. It's going to be a little quicker. But I'm a baseball player. I have confidence in myself and my ability."

Bruce volunteered to play first when Votto was originally injured.

"Bryan asked me today when I could ready," Bruce said. "I said: Tonight. Everyone here, as player, expects to do well. I expect to play first base -- not just be there."

The Reds will miss Bruce in right.

"Absolutely," Price said. "It's like when we move Frazier from third to first. He, in my opinion, is one of the better third basemen in the league. But we're trying to plug a hole and we don't have, in my opinion, an obvious solution. Somebody's that been a regular, creditable first baseman."

Price did not consider Schumaker, who has played second base.

"No, he does a great job in all three outfield spots," Price said. "He spells Brandon (Phillips) at second. He hasn't played first or third."

The Reds did not consider calling up first baseman Neftali Soto from Louisville either.

"Not at this point in time," Price said. "We have some pieces of our team I'd like to play more. I've been rotating in left field. When you have Ludwick, Schumaker, (Chris) Heisey, if there's a way to cover first base and get those guys more playing time, that would be the best possible answer."

Price said for now the Reds aren't looking outside the organization for first base help.

"We'd like to kick the tires on what we have in stock, as opposed to going out and looking around," he said.

Pena and Frazier will play first as well.

If Votto isn't available, the Reds bench for tonight is Tucker Barnhart, Cozart and Heisey because the team is going with eight relievers.

The rest of the lineup is as follows:

Hamilton CF

Frazier 3B

Phillips 2B

Bruce 1B

Mesoraco C

Ludwick LF

Schumaker RF

Santiago SS

Leake P