In a gruesome and devastating injury, the Reds lost one of their most productive hitters on Tuesday night as shortstop Jeff Keppinger fractured his left knee in the second inning against the Marlins. X-rays showed the fracture and he’ll undergo a more detailed MRI Wednesday morning.

He fouled a ball off his knee. eerily similar to the way Jermaine Dye did a short time ago, and was forced from the game. With the Reds' only other shortstop, Alex Gonzalez, already out with his own knee injury, the team was forced to put veteran Jerry Hairston Jr. in as his replacement.

Keppinger was hitting .320 with 3 HR's and 20 RBI's and leading all major league shortstops in batting average with runners in scoring position.

The Reds most likely will call up shortstop Paul Janish from Class AAA Louisville, where he is hitting .289, but has no major-league experience. Janish was pulled from his game in Louisville last night shortly after the injury to Keppinger occurred.

The team cut Juan Castro in Wayne Krivsky's last move last month and barring a trade simply have no other options. Brandon Phillips came up as a shortstop in the Indians' system, but is highly unlikely that the team would consider moving him from his current position at second base.