Pirates GM Ben Cherington says Nick Gonzales' groin injury will keep him out of lineup 'weeks, not days'

Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Nick Gonzales, who has recorded the third-most RBIs on the team, will be out a significant amount of time after he was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday with a left groin injury suffered Saturday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“This is going to be weeks (out of action), not days, unfortunately for us,” general manager Ben Cherington said on his weekly radio show on 93.7 FM. “I think we’ll know a little more about the precise timeline as we get into the next week and see how he responds to treatment. Certainly optimistic that he’s going to come back and help us this year and play games. But it’s going to be a little while.

“He felt that grab, pretty obviously, running down (the first-base) line as we all saw. It was pretty clear (Saturday night) it was going to be an IL (injured list).”

Gonzales, who didn’t join the team from Triple-A Indianapolis until May 10, is hitting .258, with five home runs and 39 RBIs.

The Pirates have recalled infielder Alika Williams from Triple-A Indianapolis to replace Gonzales on the active roster.

“He’s been playing really well in Triple-A,” Cherington said of Williams. “He’s been playing the most consistent brand of baseball on both sides (among call-up candidates). We trust him on the defensive side. We trust him to have a quality at-bat.”

In 23 games with the Pirates previously this season, Williams was hitting .210 with two RBIs. With Indianapolis, he was hitting .327 with an .816 OPS.

Cherington said first baseman Rowdy Tellez, who hasn’t played since Friday night when he left the game with back spasms, is “feeling better, progress (Sunday).” But Tellez was not in the starting lineup Sunday against the Diamondbacks.

“Based on how he’s progressed and how he’s feeling and the improvement, we’ve chosen to keep taking it a day at a time. We think, and we’re optimistic, we’ll be able to get past this by going day to day and not consider an IL.”

The Pirates started Sunday’s game without Gonzales, Tellez and two-time All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds, who is on the bereavement list. Cherington said he expects Reynolds to return to the team by the time it arrives in Houston for a three-game series starting Monday with the Astros.