National League notes
NL EAST Atlanta Braves
One of these years, RHP Charlie Morton will get too old to continue pitching with success. When he began this season with a 7.00 ERA in four April starts, it was natural to wonder if 2022 was that year.
“There’s the question of: ‘Can I still do it?’ ” the 38-year-old told reporters.
Then Morton made back-to-back starts in which he allowed just one run total in 11 innings.
Morton, who in the second half of his career has contributed to two teams that won the World Series (Astros, Braves) and another that got to the Series (Rays), got a one-year, $20 million contract from the Braves.
“I see things differently from hitters and their reactions to pitches that I’m throwing,” Morton said in early May. “Whether it’s a fastball right down the middle that they’re not quite turning on or it’s the four-seamer up that they’re swinging under or it’s the curveball that they’re chasing.”
h OF Ronald Acuña Jr. was given an MRI on a troublesome right groin, but the test showed no major problems.
Miami Marlins
In three Grapefruit League starts, RHP Pablo Lopez allowed 17 base runners and 10 runs in eight innings.
In his first seven regular-season starts, he allowed just six runs total for an MLB-best 1.05 ERA with a 0.814 WHIP that ranked third in the majors.
“He never showed any panic even when he was struggling (in spring training),” C Jacob Stallings told reporters.
Lopez struck out a career-high 11 in a May 13 matchup with Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner. The two starters left a 1-1 game after seven innings, with the Brewers going on to win 2-1 on a run in the ninth.
h Just a few days before the New York Post reported that Alex Rodriguez is interested in buying the Marlins if current owner Bruce Sherman decides to sell, Rodriguez’s 26-year-old nephew Joe Dunand homered for the Marlins in his major league debut.
New York Mets
The Mets will be without C James McCann for approximately six weeks after surgery was required on the broken hamate bone in his left wrist. While McCann was hitting just .196 with a .551 OPS, his work framing pitches and handling the Mets’ stellar pitching staff had already won praise.
“He’s already made a huge contribution,” manager Buck Showalter said.
McCann’s injury means more playing time for Tomas Nido, who had already started 13 of the 31 Mets’ 31 games. It also meant another major league chance for Patrick Mazeika, an unlikely star early in the 2021 season.
Through 36 games, Mets pitchers had the second-best ERA (3.40) in the NL, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
h RHP Drew Smith didn’t allow a run in his first 131⁄3 innings of the season, the eighth-longest streak by a full-time reliever in Mets history.
Philadelphia Phillies
The decision to use the designated hitter rule in the National League this season proved fortunate for the Phillies and for OF Bryce Harper, who otherwise would have been out of the lineup with a small tear in the UCL in his right elbow.
Harper will be unable to throw for about four weeks, but the diagnosis came during a nine-game stretch in which Harper went 18-for-36 (.500) with seven doubles, five home runs and 12 RBI.
“It feels like he’s the best player in the world,” Los Angeles Dodgers SS (and former Harper teammate) Trea Turner told reporters, after Harper went 8-for-12 with three home runs in three games at Dodger Stadium.
h The Harper-led offensive surge helped the Phillies survive a period where two of their five starting pitchers were on the COVID-19 injured list. RHP Zack Wheeler went just a week between starts, but RHP Zach Eflin missed two weeks.
Washington Nationals
LHP Patrick Corbin was the Nationals’ opening-day starter. Keibert Ruiz is the team’s primary catcher.
But at least for the immediate future, Ruiz likely won’t be the catcher on days Corbin is pitching. After putting up a 16.20 ERA in three 2022 starts with Ruiz behind the plate, Corbin seemed to turn around his season with a 2.37 ERA in three consecutive starts throwing to backup C Riley Adams.
Corbin was the winning pitcher in relief
in Game 7 when the Nationals won the 2019 World Series. The Nationals have seen their fortunes go downhill quickly since then, but so has Corbin.
Through May 15, in 50 starts from the start of the 2020 season, Corbin was 1129 with a 5.61 ERA.
h LF Yadiel Hernandez, 34, may finally be on the way to being a major league regular. Hernandez’s hot bat got him 14 starts in an 19-game span through May 15. Hernandez, who signed with the Nationals out of Cuba in October 2016, had started just 63 major league games before this season.
NL CENTRAL Chicago Cubs
C Yan Gomes is not the prototypical cleanup hitter. The 11-year veteran entered the week with 119 career home runs.
However, manager David Ross put Gomes in the No. 4 spot at the Diamondbacks on May 14. Gomes responded by homering and singling in the winning run in the ninth inning in his 14th career start at cleanup.
“He’s got such a quality at-bat,” Ross said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re facing.”
Signed to a two-year, $13 million contract as a free agent in the offseason, Gomes was added more because of his veteran presence behind the plate. RHP Kyle Hendricks, who got the win, credited Gomes with getting him through 52⁄3 innings without having his best stuff.
h RF Seiya Suzuki returned to the lineup May 14 after missing three games with a right ankle injury. After a hot start, he had one homer in his last 26 games entering the week.
Cincinnati Reds
RHP Hunter Greene held the Pirates without a hit for the first 71⁄3 innings May 15, but three walks and a fielder’s choice led to the game’s only run as the Pirates won without managing a hit.
The last time in the majors a team failed to get a hit in a game but still ended up winning was on June 28, 2008, according to MLB, when Angels pitchers Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo held the Dodgers hitless but lost the game 1-0.
Greene, a former first-rounder with the 100 mph fastball, struck out nine and walked five in throwing 118 pitches. He gave way to Art Warren after walking two of the first three batters he faced in