Thursday was a day in which the Cincinnati Reds held their collective breaths as they were finding out if the injury to Brandon Phillips was severe enough to warrant a trip to the disabled list.

As it turns out, the team dodged a bullet as they discovered that a second set of X-rays found that Phillips’ bruised right hand is merely bruised. Assuming that the swelling subsides, he may be available to play this weekend.

Phillips incurred the injury during the wild 12-11 win over the San Francisco Giants when Giants reliever Santiago Casilla plunked Phillips’ hand with a 95 mph fastball. The Reds cannot afford to lose Phillips for any appreciable length of time as the team doesn’t really have a true leadoff hitter. Don’t be surprised if the team uses Drew Stubbs (yikes!) in the #1 spot for now.

Meanwhile, a second bullet was avoided when it was found that Laynce Nix avoided a trip to the DL with a sprained left ankle, which was incurred on Monday; the injury was highlighted on Wednesday when he couldn’t run out a grounder in his role as a pinch-hitter.