The Arizona Diamondbacks, like most teams, have had their share of injuries. They luckily avoided a seventh broken bone of the season on Saturday night when David Hernandez took a line drive off the ankle and turned out to only be a bruise. Geoff Blum, broken finger, and reliever Alberto Castillo (shoulder) both spoke before Sunday's game and gave injury updates.
Hernandez had his ankle taped before the game but said he had no swelling or lingering pain from the ball that hit him during the eighth inning Saturday. At first, he said, his entire foot went numb and he was worried but the x-rays were negative and after a variety of treatments he's feeling much better today. It's unlikely he will pitch on Sunday but said he could if needed.
The D-backs dodged a bullet on that one. They could hardly afford to lose their valuable set-up man at this point in the season.
Infielder Geoff Blum is close to returning after breaking a finger fielding a ground ball in a game in late July. He's targeting September 1st for his return.
Reliever Alberto Castillo is rehabbing a shoulder issue. He threw 25 pitches in a bullpen session on Sunday. Manager Kirk Gibson said he would throw a few more sessions but could be back in the next week or so.
September call-ups
The Diamondbacks are having discussions about potential September call-ups when the roster expands on September 1st. With Double-A Mobile in the playoffs, Gibson said the team would be mindful of who they bring up. At the same time, he wants to be sure he has plenty of arms available should his team get into a long extra innings game.
With five top prospects in Mobile (Tyler Skaggs, Patrick Corbin, Jarrod Parker, Charles Brewer and Trevor Bauer) all in one place, it will be interesting to see who gets the nod.
Gibson did say the team will call-up a third catcher to have on the roster even though newly acquired shortstop John McDonald made it clear he has both a first base and catchers glove and is prepared to play anywhere. The team doesn't want to call-up other position players just to have them around and not doing anything though.
Record-setting pitching
This is a great pregame note from AZ Snake Pit via Twitter:
Twitter / @AZSnakepit:
AZ pitchers have allowed 4 runs in five games, the best record since Sep '99. One run or less from IPK today would set a new six-game mark.