Cheesesteaks all round!
Roster moves
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.
- Reinstated off the 10-day injured list: INF Ketel Marte (strained left hamstring)
- Optioned to Triple-A Reno following yesterday’s game: OF Jorge Barrosa
Yep, Marte is back, but as discussed in the preview, this does not mean the end of Tim Tawa! Or, indeed, Garrett Hampson, because the team needs someone capable of backing up Geraldo Perdomo at short. Instead, Barrosa’s stay with the team proves to be a short one, covering five games. Marte goes right into the line-up batting lead-off, and that should certainly provide a fillip to the offense which has been a bit stagnant of late. Since the 13-11 slug-fest in Wrigley, the D-backs have played 11 games and averaged only fractionally over four runs per game (46 in total), with an overall line of .218/.296/.398 for a .694 OPS. That will need to improve.
On the pitching side four runs is the key cut-off point. When they hold the opposition to four or fewer, the Diamondbacks have won the last 12 games in a row. The last such loss was a 4-3 defeat in Washington on April 5. However, when the concede five or more runs, they have an 11-game losing streak, going back to April Fool’s Day when they beat the Yankees 7-5. Put another way, you know the result of every one of Arizona’s last 22 games, simply by looking at the runs allowed. Four or fewer = win; five or more = loss. Normally, you’d expect the odd low scoring defeat, or high-offense victor to creep in there, but it’s been four weeks or so since that has happened.
A couple of bits and pieces from Torey Lovullo’s pre-game media session. No word on Justin Martinez’s MRI results yet. The team intends to ease Ketel Marte back into things gently, so there will still be playing time for Tawa at second, but they are also going to give him some looks in the outfield, with Barrosa no longer available. As discussed in the preview, the available bullpen tonight is not the finest, either in quantity or quality. The deeper Merrill Kelly can go into the game the better, but we should all brace ourselves for the 2025 debut of Scott McGough. Hey, if Shelby Miller can go from non-roster invitee to closer, maybe McGough can also get his own redemption arc?