D-BACKS WILL NOT HAVE MCCARTHY FOR POSTSEASON
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo says outfielder Jake McCarthy strained his oblique while taking batting practice Tuesday and is weeks from being healthy enough to play.
The Diamondbacks removed McCarthy from their NL Wild Card Series roster about 10 minutes before the start of their 6-3 Game 1 victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday. Utilityman Jace Peterson replaced him on the roster.
“I was just visiting with him in right field as I do, I’m walking around during BP, I was out there joking around with him,” Lovullo recalled Wednesday before Game 2. “I got a tap on the shoulder five minutes later saying he took his first couple of swings of BP and felt a pop. I went and saw him in the training room and he looked very uncomfortable.”
On Wednesday, catcher Gabriel Moreno left Game 2 after he was struck by a backswing.
When Milwaukee’s Brice Turang struck out swinging to lead off the second inning, his bat hit Moreno’s helmet. The game was delayed for several minutes to allow Moreno to get examined.
After Moreno took a few warmup pitches, he stayed in the game for the remainder of the second. But José Herrera took over at catcher in the bottom of the third.
Moreno homered in Game 1.
Off the field, Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen received a new contract through the 2028 season with a club option for 2029, according to a person familiar with the deal.
Mets earn late victory
The New York Mets were awarded a 1-0 win over the Marlins in the game suspended by rain on Sept. 28, with Miami’s two-run rally in the ninth voided because the inning was not completed.
The game would have been resumed Monday had it impacted the postseason but was not because the Marlins were assured of the second NL wild card and Arizona the third.
Major League Baseball, after consulting the Elias Sports Bureau, said Wednesday the score reverted to 1-0 under 7.02 (b) (4) (A) of the Official Baseball Rules, which deals with suspended games.
“If one team is ahead, the team that is ahead shall be declared the winner (unless the game is called while an inning is in progress and before the inning is completed, and the visiting team has scored one or more runs to take the lead, and the home team has not retaken the lead, in which case the score upon the completion of the last full inning shall stand),” the rule states.
Bryan De La Cruz singled leading off the ninth against Grant Hartwig and Garrett Hampson struck out. Jazz Chisholm Jr. greeted Anthony Kay with a double and scored on Yuli Gurriel’s pinch-hit single. Xavier Edwards flied out and Jon Berti singled Gurriel to second before the game was interrupted by rain at 9:41 p.m.
Umpires waited until 12:58 a.m. and then suspended the game.
All of the statistics from the ninth inning have been wiped out.
Mets manager Buck Showalter, who was fired Sunday, gets an additional win. He was 176-148 in two seasons with New York.
Orioles early
The Orioles may be Big Shots this year, but they’ll try to stay out of the Piano Man’s way this weekend.
Baltimore announced that Game 1 of the AL Division Series at Camden Yards is scheduled for just after 1 p.m. EDT Saturday. Then it will be time for the Orioles and Texas Rangers to Stand Back, because Stevie Nicks and Billy Joel are playing a concert at 7 p.m. that night at M&T Bank Stadium next door.
The two big events in close proximity could create all sorts of parking issues. But assuming there’s no rain — and the game doesn’t run for The Longest Time — there should be a big enough gap for baseball fans to begin Movin’ Out before the concertgoers start arriving in earnest.
The AL East-champion Orioles are making their first postseason appearance since 2016.