Medic!
Sorry, my line-up widget isn’t working today!
Roster moves
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.
- Recalled from Triple-A Reno: OF Jake McCarthy
- Placed on the 10-Day Injured List: OF Corbin Carroll (fractured left wrist; retro to 6/21)
Not unexpected. But it is the second case this month where a D-back has suffered a hand injury, where the initial X-ray failed to detect the problem. This would be why I am taking the “X-rays negative” assessment about Eugenio Suarez with a fair degree of skepticism. Especially given the report from the clubhouse today that there’s a “ton of swelling” and they can’t even do an MRI until that goes down. Obviously, he’s not in the line-up today, and I would imagine there’s not much chance of it until the MRI results come back. At least the roster move above does help the bench, since Carroll had basically been dead weight on the roster since he got hit on the 18th.
Also a little disturbing is that Josh Naylor was originally in the line-up, after having to leave the game yesterday too. But he has now also been scratched. Lovullo expects him to be back in there tomorrow, but… Again, I’m going to be happier once he IS in there. Pavin Smith will be playing first, Ildemaro Vargas mans the hot corner, and Randal Grichuk (with a .477 OPS in June) is your designated hitter. At least the bullpen is rested. Yesterday was the fifth time this year the Diamondbacks have been able to get through a game while using just one reliever. The last time was just over a month ago, when Corbin Burnes started, and Jalen Beeks took over for him.
Three more scoreless innings for the D-backs bullpen last night, on the heels of a solid performance in the Coors Field series. That has all helped lower the relief ERA for the month to 4.61. That’s still not VERY good – 24th in the majors and well above the MLB average of 4.93. But at least it’s trending in the right direction. It’s certainly – well, I probably should make that almost certainly – to be better than the May figure of 6.39. And at least we are not the Twins, who went from a 2.39 ERA in May, the fourth-best in the majors, to a nightmare figure of 7.93 this month, along with a record of 0-6. Relievers, thy name is volatility, if any more proof were needed!