Giants place RHP Alex Cobb (hip) on 15-day IL after early exit

The San Francisco Giants will have to make their push for a wild-card berth without right-hander Alex Cobb.

Cobb was placed on the 15-day injured list Wednesday with a hip injury he aggravated the day before.

He left Tuesday night's 8-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks when his left hip, which has been bothering him since mid-June, flared up in the third inning. Cobb was throwing to Alek Thomas when he grimaced in pain after releasing a pitch. After a short discussion on the mound, Cobb left the game with medical staff.

The 35-year-old had been making his first start since Sept. 11 as the Giants had tried to give him time to manage the injury.

San Francisco entered Wednesday three games back of the third wild-card berth in the National League and needing to pass three teams to return to the postseason after missing the playoffs in 2022.

Manager Gabe Kapler said Tuesday that he saw Cobb wince and felt he didn't have enough physical strength to remain in the game.

"This is not a new event for him. It's something that he's been battling with," Kapler said. "He felt good in the bullpen, and then once he got out on the mound and he really had to finish his pitches, it started biting on him. It got to a point where we couldn't keep sending him back out there."

Cobb said the pain became too much to be an effective pitcher.

"You walk off that mound, put your team in the position that they're in during a must-win game, there's no worse feeling," said Cobb, who is 7-7 with a 3.87 ERA in 28 starts.

The Giants also put right-hander Keaton Winn on the injured list, retroactive to Tuesday, and recalled left-hander Kyle Harrison and righty Sean Hjelle from Triple-A Sacramento.

Winn, 25, is dealing with COVID-19, Kapler told reporters Wednesday. Winn owns a 1-2 record with one save and a 3.89 ERA in eight appearances (four starts) with the Giants.

Harrison, 22, is 1-1 with a 5.18 ERA in five starts this season with San Francisco. Hjelle, 26, is 2-1 with an 8.59 ERA in 12 relief appearances.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.