What's the bug waylaying all those guys in Cincinnati Reds clubhouse? Who wants to know?

SEATTLE — By the time the Cincinnati Reds return home to open their next homestand on Friday, maybe $45 million third baseman Jeimer Candelario and slugging first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand will feel well enough to return to the lineup.

Until then, the Reds continue spinning the sick-bay carousel they’ve been riding since last month in Arizona.

And while they sound hopeful they might be nearing an end to the scratch-a-day cycle they’ve been on, they don’t seem to interested in deep dives into what some of the specifics might be.

Encarnacion-Strand, who wore a mask in the clubhouse Wednesday before the game, was scratched from the lineup because of unspecified symptoms.

“Not exactly sure. He wasn’t feeling well,” manager David Bell said when asked if it was similar to the “flu-like” symptoms Candelario experienced when he was scratched and kept back at the team hotel Tuesday.

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That's at least three players who missed games during the six-game trip to Chicago and Seattle, along with pitcher Nick Martinez, who was expected to pitch out of the bullpen Saturday until falling ill and staying at the team hotel for the day. He recovered and pitched four strong innings Monday in Saturday.

Candelario was out of the lineup again Wednesday. The team checked out of its hotel before heading to T-Mobile Park for the final game of its series against the Mariners, so staying there for the game was not an option for a player unless he were planning to stay behind and quarantine — as pitcher Hunter Greene did in San Francisco late last season when diagnosed with COVID-19.

Bell wouldn’t say whether any of the Reds players and staff who have been coming and going with various ailments and sets of symptoms had been tested for COVID.

“I’m not talking about the medical stuff,” he said. “I’m just not. I think that’d be for the doctors. I’m no expert on this stuff.”

The Reds had six players go on the COVID-19 injured list late last season during a 15-day span.

Despite the series of bugs and/or allergies continually sidelining players and staff since the latter part of spring training, the Reds took a winning record into Wednesday’s series finale in Seattle.

“I think we’ve held up pretty well. As well as we can,” Bell said. “When you’re together and you play 162 games and spring training for six weeks, things pop up for any team, and you just have to be able to play through it.

“We’re no different from any team. Every team has challenges like this. It’s almost to be expected, unfortunately.”

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds without ailing Candelario, Encarnacion-Strand vs. M's