The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.
Derek Law gets added to the 40-man roster. He last pitched in the big leagues for the Nationals in 2024, when he had a stellar 2.60 ERA across 75 appearances. However, he started the following year on the IL, and needed surgery in July to repair a torn flexor tendon. He made a couple of rehab appearances in the ACL in May, but ended up back on the IL for a couple of months. Law started pitching for Reno again just a couple of weeks ago, and has thrown 6.1 scoreless innings across five appearances, with five strikeouts and no walks. Small sample size, but that is fairly promising. He last pitched on the 26th, tossing 16 pitches.
I think it’s fair to say, we could have done with Drake throwing more than four innings yesterday. The D-backs ended up having to use five relievers the rest of the way, four of them throwing more than twenty pitches. I suspect we will end up seeing some of them go back-to-back, and appearing at some point, in one or other of today’s contests. Loaisiga is probably the only one I’d say was off the board, having already pitched back-to-back. Taylor Clarke, Kevin Ginkel and Juan Morillo have all gone on consecutive days nine times this year, and Brandyn Garcia seven, so it’s certainly not unprecedented. The off-day Sunday helps, as we can empty the tank.
It’ll be interesting to see if the fuss between Merrill Kelly and the Cubs’ third-base coach in has last start has any impact. If he was doing something which could give the opposition a clue as to what was coming, that would go a long way to explaining the poor results Kelly has delivered this year. Addressing it could then pay dividends the rest of the season. Today, of all days, a long outing would be welcome. Kelly hasn’t completed six innings since before the All Star break. In those eight outings since July 9, he has a K:BB of only 29:22, so that’s something else to keep an eye on for this afternoon’s start.
With tomorrow an off day due to the rescheduling, we have a rare Saturday guest recap! PhoenixSportsFan will be bringing you this one, with Dano covering the nightcap.