MLB

C.J. Cron hit a ball that bounced in front of the plate

By Craig CalcaterraMay 15, 2018, 8:30 AM EDT
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I was thinking of trying to find a cricket match when I’m in England, but if I crap out on that I can at least watch highlights of last night’s Rays-Royals game.

It wasn’t much of a game, but in addition to that Adeiny Hechavarria juke-and-jive I mentioned in the recaps this morning, it featured C.J. Cron, doing his Vladimir Guerrero impersonation and hitting a wicked googly off of the bounce:

 

Sadly it was an out. Vlad probably would’ve tripled off that bad boy, but he’s a Hall of Famer, so it’s not fair to hold Cron to that standard. It was still pretty cool, though.

Carlos Martínez to work out of Cardinals’ bullpen for rest of season

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images
By Bill BaerAug 13, 2018, 10:49 PM EDT
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When Cardinals starter Carlos Martínez returns from the disabled list, likely some time next week, he will pitch out of the bullpen, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reports. Martínez has been on the disabled list since late July with a strained right shoulder. The plan is still for Martínez to start in 2019 and beyond.

GM John Mozeliak said, “If you’re going to go down that starting path and you’re starting at ground zero, the likelihood of him being back would be sometime in mid-September. And we’ve done that twice this year and ended up in the same place after a few starts.”

Martínez, 26, has a 3.41 ERA and a 98/49 K/BB ratio in 100 1/3 innings across 18 starts this season. The Cardinals’ rotation currently features Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, John Gant, Luke Weaver, and Austin Gomber.

The Cardinals entered play Monday 2.5 games out of the second Wild Card slot in the National League, so adding Martínez to the bullpen — or, subtracting him from the rotation, depending on how you look at it — could make a significant impact on the club’s playoff chances.