COVID wallops Marlins; Bard returns in triumph
Being on the IL for COVID does not require a positive test for the virus or a minimum stay, but players must have two negative test results before they can return. The Reds have instructed players who don’t feel well to stay home.
❚ IF Matt Davidson tested positive for COVID-19 and was placed on the IL on July 25. A night earlier, he started at designated hitter in the opener.
Milwaukee Brewers
IF Luis Urias was cleared to return to baseball activities last weekend after testing positive for COVID-19 before the start of summer camp.
Manager Craig Counsell did not have a potential timeframe for Urias to be activated. The Brewers assigned Urias to their alternative training camp in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Acquired from the San Diego Padres in an offseason trade, Urias was expected to compete with SS Orlando Arcia for the starting shortstop job.
❚ Bob Uecker began his 50th season in the broadcast booth on opening night when he again served as the color commentator. Uecker, 86, joined the Brewers in 1971, their second season in his hometown of Milwaukee after they moved from Seattle.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Derek Shelton got off to a rocky start in his first season as a major league manager.
The Pirates were 3-18 in exhibition games, then opened the season by losing twice to the Cardinals in St. Louis before winning the series finale.
However, Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon has little doubt Shelton will be successful. Shelton was Maddon’s bench coach with the Tampa Bay Rays.
“He really mulls over things quickly,” Maddon said. “He’s got a great sense of humor, which equals he’s a great conversationalist. And he’s gregarious. So he’s got all these different attributes outside of just knowing baseball.”
❚ RF Gregory Polanco began working out last weekend after beginning the season on the injured list for COVID. OF Guillermo Heredia started in right field on opening night.
St. Louis Cardinals
LHP Kwang Hyun Kim began the season as the closer after spending the first 12 years of his professional career in the Korea Baseball Organization.
Kim, 32, converted his first save opportunity on opening night, a 5-4 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates, but it was difficult. He allowed two runs in the ninth inning.
RHP Carlos Martinez had a team-high 24 saves last season but has been moved back into the rotation this year.
❚ The four-year, $30.5 million contract the Cardinals gave LH reliever Brett Cecil did not end up working out. He was released with two years and $15 million left on the deal.
NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
LHP Madison Bumgarner pitched well for five innings in the season opener before a bases-clearing double by San Diego Padres 1B Eric Hosmer broke up a scoreless game.
But the other three starters in the series – LHP Robbie Ray, RHP Zac Gallen and RHP Luke Weaver – struggled with command as Arizona lost three of four. Ray and Weaver failed to get out of the fourth inning, and Gallen gave up just a homer by Hosmer but lasted only four.
Bumgarner, whom Arizona signed as a free agent during the offseason, allowed three runs on four hits in 52⁄3 innings, but two of those hits were the first ones he had allowed to Hosmer in 17 at-bats.
❚ Diamondbacks scout Johan Maya, 40, died July 23 because of COVID-19 complications. Maya was based in the Dominican Republic.
Colorado Rockies
The biggest feel-good story of the season’s first weekend came when RH reliever Daniel Bard, who hadn’t pitched in the majors since April 27, 2013, got the victory with 11⁄3 scoreless innings against the Rangers on July 25 at Arlington, Texas.
Bard, 35, was beset by control troubles earlier in his career but threw 20 strikes in 25 pitches in his return and hit 98 mph with his fastball. He was a mental skills coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks last year.
He credited his wife, Adair, for sticking with him and said much of his perspective comes from raising their three small children.
❚ LHP Kyle Freeland tweaked his delivery during the extended break, and it paid off when he allowed two runs in six innings and got the win in his first start of the season July 26 against the Rangers.
Los Angeles Dodgers
2B Gavin Lux, who showed up late to summer camp for unknown reasons, didn’t open the season on the roster.
Manager Dave Roberts said Lux, who some consider an NL Rookie of the Year candidate, needed work on his swing at the club’s alternate camp.
His fate also was sealed by the Dodgers’ depth at second. IF Chris Taylor and IF/OF Enrique Hernandez, both of whom are reliable options, put together solid performances during camp and opened the season hitting well.
❚ RHP Ross Stripling exhibited an effective change-up in his July 24 win over the San Francisco Giants. Stripling said he refined the pitch during the offseason and in summer camp.
San Diego Padres
New manager Jayce Tingler said Francisco Mejia and Austin Hedges will split catching duties until one emerges.
Hedges is considered one of the NL’s top defensive catchers but batted .176 with 109 strikeouts in 312 at-bats last season.
Mejia has exhibited more pop in his bat but is limited in major league experience and isn’t as good defensively.
Mejia was promoted by the Padres last season after hitting .365 in a brief stay at Class AAA El Paso (Texas).
❚ 1B Eric Hosmer’s six RBI July 24, coming on two basesclearing doubles, were the most RBI by a Padre in an opener.
San Francisco Giants
The bounce-back season for SS Brandon Crawford, a twotime All-Star, didn’t get off to a great start. Crawford was 1for-10 in the opening series, was yanked in the seventh inning of the opener for a pinch-hitter and committed one of the Giants’ four errors on July 24.
Crawford didn’t start July 25 in Los Angeles as manager Gabe Kapler opted for IF/OF Mauricio Dubon at short against LHP Alex Wood.
Since being an All-Star in 2018, Crawford has struggled offensively. He batted .193 after the break that season and hit .228 last year, his lowest average since his rookie season.
❚ Assistant coach Alyssa Nakken became the first woman to coach on the field during a major league game when she replaced Antoan Richardson at first base during an exhibition against the Oakland Athletics on July 20.