COLUMBUS, Ohio — For Eugenio Suárez, a double on Wednesday was better than a home run. Playing in the first game of his rehabilitation assignment with the Triple-A Louisville Bats, the 34-year-old Suárez launched the second pitch he saw off the top of the right-field wall at Huntington Park and dug for a triple.Suárez was cruising into third base before the umpires pointed back at second after ruling the hit a ground-rule double. But a deep ball off the wall was just what he needed to test the left oblique strain that has caused the Cincinnati Reds’ biggest offseason signing to miss the team’s last 25 games.“I feel a lot better after that double,” Suárez said following the Bats’ 2-1 loss to the Columbus Clippers on Wednesday. “I ran the bases really well. Nothing bothered me at all. I feel good, so we see tomorrow and see the progress.”Suárez finished the game 1-for-4, but more importantly, he felt fine physically and is expected to play in the field for the Bats’ game Thursday against the Clippers.“That’s the next step,” Suárez said. “That’s why I say that tomorrow we’ll see how I feel, but today was good. So far, so good.”Suárez said his legs feel great, but he wasn’t sure how his oblique would feel until he tested it. The double — or what he thought was a triple — allowed his instincts to kick in with no time to worry about how his actions might affect the oblique.The results on the field are only part of the equation when it comes to Suárez. Well known for his “good vibes only” attitude, Suárez is more than a slogan or a stat line. Bats third baseman Michael Chavis noted that at the minor-league level, a rehabbing big leaguer — let alone a big leaguer coming off a 49-homer season — is going to be the center of attention, not just in the stands but also on the bench and in the clubhouse. When Suárez busted out of the box on a fly ball, it was not just about a double or triple, but also the standards of how to play.“He doesn’t have to do that, right? He’s rehabbing. A lot of guys would say, ‘I don’t want to blow a hammy. I don’t want to do this,'” Chavis said. “He ran for that triple because he knew what he does carries weight, and he knows that people are always watching him — whether it’s our team, the other team, somebody in the stands. There’s always somebody watching, and that’s how he goes about his business.”Suárez began his second career stint with the Reds with a .231/.300/.363 slash line with three homers in 25 games. Last season, Suárez had six homers through his first 25 games and 14 through the Arizona Diamondbacks’ first 50 games.The Reds played their 50th game of the season Wednesday in Philadelphia while Suárez was in Columbus. In the 25 games with Suárez on the active roster, the Reds were 16-9 and have gone 10-15 in the 25 games since he was placed on the injured list. Suárez’s absence isn’t the reason the Reds haven’t had as good a record as they had at the start of the season, but his presence has been missed.While Suárez has dealt with injuries before, this is the first time he’s had this particular injury. Suárez’s instinct to fight through the pain and try to get back to a struggling team is at odds, he said, with what he knows is best: not pushing a return and aggravating the injury, ultimately missing more time.Even though Suárez had felt improvement in his oblique early, the Reds were cautious with his return, making sure his reports and the MRIs reached similar conclusions before moving forward. Suárez said he pushed to accelerate his rehab but was held back by the team’s athletic trainers, coaches and front office.“I understand how important it is to be 100 percent and stay in the game for the rest of the season,” he said. “But at the same time, I’m the guy who loves to play baseball, and I want to be with the guys.”Suárez’s joy came through, not just on the field, but in the clubhouse where he spent much of the postgame playing cards with Héctor Rodríguez and Noelvi Marte, two of the Reds’ top young players. Suárez reported to the Bats on Tuesday night and was activated Wednesday. Suárez was at the field before the game, stayed in the dugout for the whole game, including the rain that caused the game to be suspended and finished Wednesday.“Having him last night was great, and he hung around for the game,” Bats manager Pat Kelly said. “A lot of rehab guys work out and go back to the hotel, but he stayed for the whole game. And that was great.”Ferguson gives up 4Suárez wasn’t the only big leaguer rehabbing an oblique with the Bats, as left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson made his sixth appearance with the Bats on Wednesday, beginning the eighth inning of the continuation of the Bats’ game from Tuesday night.Ferguson struck out two but gave up four runs on two hits in his 2/3 of an inning. Ferguson nearly left the game unscathed, but Rodríguez in left field didn’t make a play on a soft liner by Clippers third baseman Milan Tolentino, allowing two runs to score. Ferguson was removed after the hit, and Yunior Marte allowed a two-run single to the next batter. All four runs — and the loss — were charged to Ferguson.Hendrick upNot that there is a typical linear path through the minor leagues, but 2020 first-rounder Austin Hendrick’s journey has been something that nobody could’ve foreseen when he entered the 2020 season as one of the nation’s top high school players.Hendrick’s senior season in high school was wiped out before the Reds took him with the 12th pick in the truncated 2020 draft. Instead of beginning his pro career at the team’s complex in Arizona, he was sent to the alternate site in suburban Cincinnati as a 19-year-old with the rest of the team’s top prospects, including the likes of Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Tyler Stephenson.Hendrick hit 21 homers in his first full season between Class-A Daytona and High-A Dayton in 2022, but hit just .216 and had 165 strikeouts. Hendrick began this year at Double-A Chattanooga for the third straight year before getting his first call-up to Triple-A this week. Hendrick singled in his first Triple-A plate appearance Tuesday night and hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of the continuation of that game Wednesday afternoon, putting the Bats up 4-3 in the eighth before Ferguson gave up the lead in the 7-5 loss.In 37 games with the Lookouts, Hendrick hit .271/.331/.436 with five home runs and 25 RBIs in 145 plate appearances. Hendrick was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in Wednesday’s game.