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Daily Clips August 19, 2014

LOCAL

D-backs hang tough, but fall to Nats in DC Nuno's strong start, late homers not enough in series opener By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_08_18_arimlb_wasmlb_1&mode=recap_away&c_id=ari

La Russa ready to assert influence with D-backs Chief baseball officer to participate in instructional league next month By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/news/article/ari/tony-la-russa-to-be-heavily-involved-with-d-backs?ymd=20140818&content_id=90344606&vkey=news_ari

Collmenter assures Gibson he's healthy By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140818&content_id=90271760&notebook_id=90272224&vkey=notebook_ari&c_id=ari

Seeking eighth straight win, Nats turn to Strasburg D-backs righty Anderson tasked with cooling off red-hot Washington By Adam Lichtenstein / MLB.com http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_08_19_arimlb_wasmlb_1&mode=preview

Nationals beat D-Backs with walkoff homer in 11th inning azcentral sports http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2014/08/18/arizona-diamondbacks-washington-nationals-game-1/14228925/

D-Backs' Anderson has room to improve, Montero says By Nick Piecoro / azcentral sports http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2014/08/19/d-backs-anderson-room-improve-montero-says/14271231/

Tony La Russa says D-Backs' plans to be revealed soon By Nick Piecoro / azcentral sports http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2014/08/18/tony-larussa-says-d-backs-plans-revealed-soon/14270717/

Walk-off hands D-backs 3rd straight loss By Associated Press / FOX Sports Arizona http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/story/walk-off-hand-d-backs-3rd-straight-loss-081814

Diamondbacks at Nationals on FOX Sports Arizona By Jack Magruder / FOX Sports Arizona

http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/photos/diamondbacks-at-nationals-on-fox-sports-arizona-081814

Nationals get third straight walk-off win, beat D-backs in extras: By The Numbers By Jules Tomkins / Arizona Sports http://arizonasports.com/42/1759612/Nationals-get-third-straight-walkoff-win-beat-Dbacks-in-extras-By-The-Numbers

WALK4EDUCATION SHOWCASES PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ SUCCESSES AT D-BACKS GAME By Doreen Zannis / Support Our Schools AZ http://azednews.com/2014/08/18/walk4education-showcases-public-schools-successes-at-d-backs-game/

NATIONAL

LaRoche finally gets biggest type of hit By Mark Simon / ESPN http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/94361/laroche-finally-gets-biggest-type-of-hit

The 30: The Young and the Rising By Jonah Keri / Grantland http://grantland.com/features/mlb-the-30-mariners-athletics-reds-diamondbacks-chris-young/

Nationals win in walkoff fashion for third consecutive day By Matt Snyder / CBS Sports http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24667107/nationals-win-in-walkoff-fashion-for-third-consecutive-day

VIDEO: Adam LaRoche homers to give Nationals third straight walk-off victory By D.J. Short / NBC Sports http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/08/18/video-adam-laroche-homers-to-give-nationals-third-straight-walk-off-victory/

Nationals win on LaRoche homer in 11th Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/19/bbo-diamondbacks-nationals-writethru-idUSMTZEA8JJ8UYVT20140819

Arizona Diamondbacks - PlayerWatch Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/18/bbo-diamondbacks-playerwatch-idUSMTZEA8IIHXQ7J20140818

Arizona Diamondbacks - TeamReport Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/18/bbo-diamondbacks-teamreport-idUSMTZEA8IHKWD4U20140818

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Opposite dugout: D-backs hope to turn rough August around in Washington By Josh Land / MASN Sports http://www.masnsports.com/nationals-buzz/2014/08/opposite-dugout-diamondbacks-1.html

Williams meets with the media after Nats' third straight walk-off win By Dan Kolko / MASN Sports http://www.masnsports.com/nationals-pastime/2014/08/williams-meets-with-the-media-after-nats-third-straight-walk-off-win.html

And That Happened: Monday’s scores and highlights By Craig Calcaterra / NBC Sports http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/08/19/and-that-happened-mondays-scores-and-highlights-124/

Kirk Gibson: Report: D'Backs planning to bring back Gibson Rotoworld http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=MLB&id=7407&line=444575&spln=1

Nats Continue Winning Streak By Shannel Douglas / WBOC http://www.wboc.com/story/26315571/nats-continue-winning-streak

Adam LaRoche Hits First Career Walk-Off Home Run as Nationals Keep Winning By Adam Vingan / NBC Washington http://www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/capital-games/Adam-LaRoche-Hits-First-Career-Walk-Off-Home-Run-As-Nationals-Keep-Winning-271835581.html

D-backs Stung In Extras Again, Nationals Win 5-4 On Walk Off Homer By Josh Garcia / Vavel http://www.vavel.com/en-us/mlb/381583-d-backs-stung-in-extras-again-nationals-win-5-4-on-walk-off-homer.html

Nationals overcome Diamondbacks, extend streak to seven with 5-4 win By Chelsea Janes / Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/nationals-overcome-diamondbacks-extend-streak-to-seven-with-5-4-win/2014/08/18/3ddfa448-2720-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html

Nationals get third straight walk-off win, extend winning streak to seven games By Mike Oz / Big League Stew https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/nationals-get-a-walk-off-win-for-third-straight-day--extend-winning-streak-to-seven-074833867.html

RENO ACES

Assisted home run costs Aces in extra innings By Chad Seely / Reno Aces http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140818&content_id=90345132&fext=.jsp&vkey=recap&sid=t2310

MOBILE BAYBEARS

BayBears Drury & Simmons Sweep Weekly Awards By MiLB.com / Mobile BayBears http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140818&content_id=90276960&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t417&sid=t417

VISALIA RAWHIDE

Rawhide Gut Out 11-Inning Comeback Win Visalia Rawhide http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140819&content_id=90362072&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t516&sid=t516

SOUTH BEND SILVER HAWKS

Williams Works Wonders, Wins Wild One for Hawks 11-6 South Bend Silver Hawks http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140818&content_id=90327768&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t550&sid=t550

Williams ignites Silver Hawks By Staff / South Bend Tribune http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/professional/silverhawks/williams-ignites-silver-hawks/article_60cc91c8-2784-11e4-8caf-001a4bcf6878.html

HILLSBORO HOPS

Hops Sweep Eugene, Stand Alone Atop NWL Balanced effort leads to much-needed comfortable win By Rich Burk / HIllsboro Hops http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140819&content_id=90367282&fext=.jsp&vkey=recap&sid=t419

MISSOULA OSPREY

Hernandez sparkles in Osprey's win over Chukars Missoulian http://missoulian.com/sports/osprey/hernandez-sparkles-in-osprey-s-win-over-chukars/article_3af865ca-2758-11e4-a67a-0019bb2963f4.html

NATIONAL

MLB NEWS August 19, 2014 • MLB.com http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news_index.jsp ASSOCIATED PRESS August 19, 2014 • Sports.yahoo.com http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/morenews MLB TRANSACTIONS August 19, 2014 • MLB.com http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions

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LOCAL

D-backs hang tough, but fall to Nats in DC Nuno's strong start, late homers not enough in series opener By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_08_18_arimlb_wasmlb_1&mode=recap_away&c_id=ari WASHINGTON -- When the count got to three balls and one strike, D-backs right-hander Will Harris figured he would throw a breaking ball to Adam LaRoche. After all, it was a fastball count and the Nationals slugger certainly would not be looking for an offspeed pitch. LaRoche, though, hit that Harris pitch off the facing of the upper deck in right as the Nationals walked off with a 5-4 win in 11 innings over the D-backs on Monday night at Nationals Park. "I guess maybe in the back of his head, he thought he might be getting an offspeed pitch, that I'd be pitching around him with a righty on deck," Harris said. "I made the pitch I wanted to make and he hit it out. There's nothing else really to do about it. When you pitch a guy not to beat you, you're going to throw offspeed pitches in fastball counts. That's kind of what I did. And he got me." Harris, who was called up from Triple-A Reno earlier in the day, retired the first two batters of the inning before LaRoche ended what had been a back-and-forth game. It was the seventh straight win for the Nationals and their third in a row in walk-off fashion. For LaRoche it was the first walk-off homer of his 11-year career. "Honestly, the last thing I'm looking for right there is a 3-1 curveball," LaRoche said. "I just happened to see it really good." The D-backs had a golden opportunity to take the lead in their half of the 11th, when they loaded the bases with nobody out against Craig Stammen. The veteran, though, was able to fan rookie Jake Lamb and second-year player Didi Gregorius before getting Cliff Pennington to ground out and leave the bases loaded. "We had the bases loaded the last inning, and we had some young guys up there and we didn't get it done," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. "They had a veteran guy in LaRoche, he's a good breaking-ball hitter, got one that hung a little bit and he hit it out. It was a good game, back and forth, but it's always disappointing when you lose a game like that." With the playoffs out of reach, the D-backs' focus has been on developing their young players, so they can only hope that instances like the 11th inning prove to be learning experiences. "They're younger and that's kind of an excitable moment," Gibson said. "They'll get better the more times they go through

it, and that's one of the deals we've got to go through right now. But overall, I think we played our hearts out and played a good game." Left-hander Vidal Nuno gave the D-backs seven quality innings as he and Nats starter Jordan Zimmermann matched zeros for the first four innings before the D-backs were finally able to break through. Zimmermann issued a walk to Mark Trumbo, who would eventually come around to score on a sacrifice fly by Jordan Pacheco to give the D-backs a 1-0 lead. It looked like Nuno might make that stand up, but he was hurt by a walk of his own in the seventh. The left-hander started the inning by retiring LaRoche, but then walked Ian Desmond. After striking out Bryce Harper, Nuno was one strike away from getting out of the inning, but Wilson Ramos instead hit a 1-2 hanging breaking ball over the wall in center for a 2-1 Nats lead. Just as quickly as the lead disappeared, though, the D-backs were able to reclaim it. Lamb led off the eighth by drawing a walk from Zimmermann, and Gregorius followed with an eight-pitch at-bat that resulted in a home run to right that gave Arizona a 3-2 lead. That's when it became clear that this was going to be a back-and-forth night. It was the Nats' turn in the eighth, as they scored a pair of runs off setup man Brad Ziegler to go up 4-3. With closer Rafael Soriano having worked a lot lately, the Nats brought in Tyler Clippard to try and finish things off in the ninth. After getting the first hitter of the inning, David Peralta, quickly down 0-2, Clippard hung a breaking ball and Peralta homered to tie the game at 4.

La Russa ready to assert influence with D-backs Chief baseball officer to participate in instructional league next month By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/news/article/ari/tony-la-russa-to-be-heavily-involved-with-d-backs?ymd=20140818&content_id=90344606&vkey=news_ari WASHINGTON -- Next month, when the D-backs begin reporting for instructional league, you can expect chief baseball officer Tony La Russa to begin to assert his influence on how the organization plays the game. La Russa, who was hired to the newly created position in May, has spent his first three months on the job observing and evaluating. He's visited the organization's Minor League affiliates, sat in on First-Year Player Draft preparations and played a role in the deliberations when it came to making decisions at the Trade Deadline.

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Starting with the instructional league next month, La Russa said he will begin to have more of an impact. Minor League players begin reporting for the instructional league on Sept. 12, and La Russa will have an opportunity to meet with the Minor League managers and field coordinators at that time. His plan is to share with them the many lessons that he has learned over his Hall of Fame career. "For my purposes, it's important to get a head start on the instruction part," La Russa said. "Laying the framework. When you get to 2015, you're working from a base of ideas. It's not going to be all that dramatic." La Russa is in charge of the entire baseball operations department, and managing general partner Ken Kendrick and CEO Derrick Hall made it clear when La Russa was hired that he would be the one making the ultimate call on whether to retain general manager Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson. La Russa was asked when he planned on making the final determination on the pair. "I don't think the timing for each of those has to coincide," La Russa said. "I just think that at this point, we're at Aug. 18, I've been around three months, I've observed a lot, talked to and met with a lot of people in the organization. I have a much better idea. I just think the official comment is, we're at Aug. 18, the season is a month and 10 days from being over. So it won't be long until you have to trot out your plan officially. The instructional league and the part about how you play the game, I think we can start getting at that." La Russa also plans to be involved in the planning of Spring Training next year, though, he hasn't decided whether or not he will be in uniform during the early days of drills. "I expect that I'm going to have some significant suggestions," La Russa said. "I also think there will be some tweaks and minor adjustments. They all add up. I'm going to be heavily involved. That's one thing they hired me to do."

Collmenter assures Gibson he's healthy By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140818&content_id=90271760&notebook_id=90272224&vkey=notebook_ari&c_id=ari WASHINGTON -- D-backs manager Kirk Gibson met with Josh Collmenter on Monday, and the right-hander will remain in the rotation while the team keeps an eye on his workload. Collmenter struggled Sunday afternoon in Miami, with his velocity down early in the game, leading to questions about whether he is being asked to make too big of an innings jump from last season to this season. Collmenter threw 92 innings out of the bullpen in 2013 and is already at 129 1/3 this season after being thrust into the rotation in April. "I talked to Colly today and he just felt sluggish," Gibson said. "It was one of those days. It happens from time to time. If it's

something that continues to go on, then you have to dig deeper into it." The main thing Gibson wanted to ascertain was whether Collmenter was feeling any physical discomfort. "He assures me he feels fine," Gibson said. "His shoulder isn't sore, his elbow is not sore. It's something he has to be honest with us about. At this point, he says he's fine." Collmenter is scheduled to start Friday against the Padres at Chase Field. Trumbo not being moved off first base WASHINGTON -- Mark Trumbo got the starting nod in left field Monday night, but manager Kirk Gibson said it was not because of Trumbo's struggles at first base over the weekend. Trumbo had some trouble catching pickoff throws at first base against the Marlins on Saturday and Sunday. "I wanted to get Jordan Pacheco in the lineup," Gibson said. "I thought the best spot to put him at would be first base, move Mark out there in left field." Trumbo began the season in left field, but moved to first base after Paul Goldschmidt was lost for the season due to a fractured left hand. Prior to this year, the majority of Trumbo's playing time had come at first base. Bench coach Alan Trammell talked with Trumbo a little about some adjustments with his positioning and footwork that might help. "He's a tall guy," Gibson said. "Maybe he's standing up a little more than normal. The other thing is, his glove, his target, is high. Maybe we'll move it down a little bit, spot it down. Any place you're at on defense, you can get a bad hop or get a low throw or high throw. You try to put yourself in the best position you can to be able to react and catch it." D-backs bring back righty reliever Harris WASHINGTON -- Will Harris is back again. The D-backs recalled the right-hander from Triple-A Reno on Monday and optioned Bradin Hagens to Reno. Hagens was called up last Thursday with the D-backs' bullpen running on fumes following a doubleheader in Cleveland. The right-hander made a pair of appearances and allowed one run in 2 2/3 innings. This will be Harris' third stint in the big leagues this year. He was on the Opening Day roster and was up for a week in June. After posting a 2.91 ERA for the D-backs in 2013, Harris has a 9.24 ERA in 12 games with Arizona. With Reno this year, Harris was 3-2 with a 0.99 ERA. D-backs prospect Blair keeps firing blanks

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Right-hander Aaron Blair, the D-backs' No. 4 prospect, struck out seven batters in six scoreless innings Monday as Double-A Mobile defeated Mississippi, 4-2. Blair, ranked No. 83 on MLBPipeline.com's Top 100 Prospects list, threw 78 pitches, scattering four hits and one walk. He threw six scoreless innings for the second consecutive start and extended his shutout streak to 14 innings. Blair has had a sensational first full professional season after the D-backs selected him with the 36th overall pick of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft. He began the year with Class A South Bend and earned two promotions to reach Mobile last month. In 25 starts across all three levels, he is 9-5 with a 3.70 ERA. He has struck out 160 batters and walked 44 in 143 1/3 innings. He ranks second in the Minor Leagues in strikeouts, trailing Class A Advanced Dunedin right-hander Taylor Cole by two. Third baseman Brandon Drury, the D-backs' No. 6 prospect, went 2-for-4 in the victory, extending his hitting streak to seven games. He is hitting .362/.406/.638 in 16 games since he was promoted from Class A Advanced Visalia at the beginning of August.

Seeking eighth straight win, Nats turn to Strasburg D-backs righty Anderson tasked with cooling off red-hot Washington By Adam Lichtenstein / MLB.com http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_08_19_arimlb_wasmlb_1&mode=preview Stephen Strasburg has had two of his best starts of the season this month, but he has also had one of his worst. In outings against the Phillies on Aug. 3 and the Mets on Aug. 14, Strasburg combined for 14 innings and 18 strikeouts while allowing only one unearned run on six hits. But in between those two outings, he faced Atlanta -- a team Washington leads by six games in the National League East -- on the road and gave up seven runs in five innings in a 7-6 Nationals loss. The one thing that has been consistent for Strasburg in those three outings were his strikeout numbers -- he struck out eight or more in all three starts. On the other side of the country, Strasburg's opponent Tuesday, rookie Chase Anderson, is in the midst of his hottest streak of the season. In his last six starts, Anderson is only 2-0 but has an ERA of just 2.19. Although he isn't a strikeout pitcher, Anderson is averaging nearly a strikeout per inning. The problem Anderson has had, however, is high early pitch counts. He's pitched well, but long early innings have limited him to only six innings in five of his last six starts. Nationals: Zimmerman no closer to returning There is still no timetable for third baseman Ryan Zimmerman to return to the Nationals' lineup.

Zimmerman, who suffered a Grade 3 hamstring strain on July 22, has not restarted baseball activities yet and has only worked out on an underwater treadmill. "There is no exact timetable. It's hard to put concrete dates on anything, because you just don't know. You are starting to feel better and that is a good sign," Zimmerman said. "I've been doing a few rehab things. There's really nothing you can do right now." The 29-year-old Zimmerman was hitting .282 with an .802 on-base-plus-slugging percentage through 53 games before he suffered his hamstring injury. D-backs: Trumbo struggling at first Although his bat has been coming around lately, Mark Trumbo has struggled to fill the shoes -- or rather, glove -- of Paul Goldschmidt at first base. The 28-year-old Trumbo has committed two errors in 11 games at first base so far this season, while committing only 18 in 299 games throughout his career prior to this season. "I don't think in the past he's had any problem," manager Kirk Gibson said. "I don't know if the dome [in Miami] had anything to do with it. Where the throws were, they all seemed to be kind of low. We might work with his positioning so he can have a better opportunity to catch the low throws, should it go down there." Gibson did suggest, however, that the 6-foot-4 Trumbo's height may be part of the issue. "He's a tall guy. Maybe he's standing up a little more than normal," Gibson said. "The other thing is, his glove, his target, is high. Maybe we'll move it down a little bit, spot it down. Any place you're at on defense, you can get a bad hop or get a low throw or high throw. You try to put yourself in the best position you can to be able to react and catch it." Worth noting • The D-backs recalled reliever Will Harris from Triple-A Reno and optioned pitcher Bradin Hagens to Reno. • The Nationals signed veteran outfielder Nate Schierholtz to a Minor League contract on Monday.

Nationals beat D-Backs with walkoff homer in 11th inning azcentral sports http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2014/08/18/arizona-diamondbacks-washington-nationals-game-1/14228925/ Recap: Adam LaRoche's home run off reliever Will Harris gave the Washington Nationals a walkoff win over the Diamondbacks on Monday night in an entertaining, back-and-forth opener of a four-game series at Nationals Park. For LaRoche, it was his 236th home run in an 11-year major-league career, but it was his first walkoff blast.

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"Nice to get my first one," LaRoche said. "Took me long enough. It's a good feeling. "You know, you get to a point where you really stop thinking about it. I just felt like I had been snake-bit. It seems like any of my ninth-inning homers have come on the road. I just haven't been able to do it at home." LaRoche's shot: Harris retired the first two batters of the 11th, and with Ian Desmond on deck, he said he was pitching LaRoche carefully. He wound up falling behind 3-1, but instead of giving LaRoche a fastball, he went to a curveball. Harris said the pitch was where he wanted it — down in the strike zone — but LaRoche lined it out to right field. "When you pitch a guy not to beat you, you're going to throw off-speed pitches in fastball counts," he said. "That's kind of what I did. And he got me." Fast and furious: The Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh before the teams began trading blows. Diamondbacks LHP Vidal Nuño was one strike away from getting out of the seventh unscathed, but he left a 1-2 slider up to Wilson Ramos, who drilled it over the center-field wall for a two-run homer, putting the Nationals ahead 2-1. The Diamondbacks answered against Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann, with Didi Gregorius ending an eight-pitch at-bat by lining a two-run homer to right field to make it 3-2. The Nationals came back with two of their own off struggling Diamondbacks reliever Brad Ziegler, but David Peralta's solo homer off Tyler Clippard tied it again. Missed chance: Before LaRoche's blast in the bottom of the 11th, the Diamondbacks missed a huge scoring opportunity in the top of the inning. They loaded the bases against Nationals reliever Craig Stammen but came up empty when Jake Lamb and Didi Gregorius struck out before Cliff Pennington bounced out. "I started making good pitches," Stammen said. "I made good pitches and they didn't hit them. I got lucky." UP NEXT D-Backs at Nationals When: Tuesday, 4:05 p.m. Where: Nationals Park. TV/Radio: FSAZ/KTAR-AM 620, KMVP-FM 98.7, KSUN-AM 1400. Pitching matchup: Diamondbacks RHP Chase Anderson (7-4, 3.16) vs. Nationals RHP Stephen Strasburg (9-10, 3.53). Notable: Anderson had to work out of several jams, but he made it through six innings against the Marlins on Thursday, giving up

three runs on nine hits and two walks. … It was his sixth consecutive quality start. He has a 2.19 ERA during that stretch. … Strasburg has had 11 starts in which he has allowed three earned runs or more; he had nine such starts last year. … Strasburg gave up three runs in seven innings against the Diamondbacks on May 13. Upcoming pitchers: Wednesday: At Washington, 4:05 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Trevor Cahill (3-8, 4.68) vs. Nationals RHP Tanner Roark (12-7, 2.93). Thursday:At Washington, 1:05 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Wade Miley (7-9, 4.46) vs. Nationals LHP Gio Gonzalez (6-9, 4.06). Friday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Josh Collmenter (8-7, 4.31) vs. Padres RHP Jesse Hahn (7-3, 2.96).

D-Backs' Anderson has room to improve, Montero says By Nick Piecoro / azcentral sports http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2014/08/19/d-backs-anderson-room-improve-montero-says/14271231/ WASHINGTON – Since his call-up in mid-May, Chase Anderson has been the Diamondbacks' best starting pitcher, but catcher Miguel Montero sees room for the rookie right-hander to be even better. "He's still learning, and he's still got to find a way to work ahead in the count," Montero said. "He's been behind in the count too much and been getting away with it." Though Anderson's strike percentage (63.4) and his percentage of first-pitch strikes (60.2) are only slightly worse than league averages, he agrees wholeheartedly with his catcher's assessment. "That's exactly true," Anderson said. "You just make it so much harder when you get behind in the count. Sometimes I'm able to battle through it, and sometimes I'm not." Anderson, who will make his 16th start Tuesday night against the Nationals, believes he's wasting too many pitches by having to battle back into counts. His outing on Thursday against the Marlins was his third consecutive start in which he's needed 99 pitches or more to get through six innings. He's pitched effectively each time, but he believes he could be going deeper. "Hopefully, I can work into the seventh or eighth inning, instead of getting out after 100 pitches in the sixth inning," he said. "That's not desirable. You want to be 100 pitches at nine innings, when the game is over with." Still, with a 3.16 ERA in 851/3 innings and 13 of 15 outings in which he's allowed three earned runs or fewer, Anderson is showing he might deserve a spot in next year's rotation. "He's starting to kind of impress me, to be honest," Montero said. "I think he's capable of pitching in the big leagues."

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Pickoff problems Though the Diamondbacks had three pickoff attempts result in errors on Saturday and Sunday in Miami, manager Kirk Gibson said it wasn't a factor in why he had Mark Trumbo playing left field instead of first base on Monday, saying he wanted to find a way to get Jordan Pacheco into the lineup. Still, it was clear the pickoff issues with Trumbo were something a concern for Gibson, who said he reviewed all three plays on video to see what happened. "Where the throws were, they all seemed to be kind of low," Gibson said. Collmenter OK Gibson met with Josh Collmenter on Monday afternoon to make sure the right-hander was healthy and ready to make his next start, scheduled for Friday against the San Diego Padres. Collmenter, working with decreased velocity, was hammered by the Marlins for five runs in four innings on Sunday. "He assures me he feels fine," Gibson said. Short hop Prior to Monday's game, the Diamondbacks optioned right-hander Bradin Hagens to Triple-A Reno and recalled right-hander Will Harris, who had a 0.99 ERA in 452/3 innings for Reno. Hagens allowed one run on four hits and three walks in 22/3 innings. Harris entered Monday's game in the 11th and gave up the game-winning homer to Adam LaRoche.

Tony La Russa says D-Backs' plans to be revealed soon By Nick Piecoro / azcentral sports http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2014/08/18/tony-larussa-says-d-backs-plans-revealed-soon/14270717/ Sitting in a dark suite high above Nationals Park on Monday night, Tony La Russa watched his team play, clapping loudly when Diamondbacks players delivered hits or advanced runners. For La Russa, this week marks his third month on the job as the Diamondbacks' chief baseball officer. His position sits atop the club's baseball-operations department; he has been given total control by team ownership. But he has yet to give many hints as to what he will do with that control, or what his presence means to the club's current leadership duo of General Manager Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson. In a 20-minute talk with reporters during Monday night's game, he continued to be evasive when discussing the possibility of change. All he would do is confirm the obvious: A decision will be coming sooner than later. "The season is a month and 10 days from being over," he said. "So it won't be long until you have to trot out your plan officially."

But it sounded as if the next order of business on La Russa's schedule is next month's instructional league at the team's spring-training complex at Salt River Fields. For a month every fall, teams assemble the majority of their top prospects for the purposes of delivering hands-on instruction. Diamondbacks prospects are set to report on Sept. 12, and La Russa seems to view it as a chance to start making an impression on the way the organization plays the game. "We start up the instructional league and those first few days, we can get the staff and start discussing some of the things that I've observed, from the playing-the-game side," La Rusa said. "Not necessarily the player evaluation, that comes later, but the way we play the game." During his time with the organization, La Russa has watched not only the major-league club but also all four full-season minor-league affiliates. And he sees some areas that could use some fine-tuning, although, not surprisingly, he didn't want to delve into specifics. "There's things that we learn, the little things, in every phase of the game that have been taught over the years, if you're doing them better than someone else, you've got an edge," he said. "You really want to keep those things to yourself. "As close as these games are — and it's not just our games, even the teams that win 95-100 (games) win a lot of tough games — you make one little execution or two, that's really where the payoff is." Interestingly, La Russa didn't rule out the idea of being the one providing the instruction – not managing, but perhaps getting on the field during spring training or instructional league and coaching. "I was hired to be hands-on," he said. "Does that mean put on a warm-up suit and walk around? Put on a uniform? I've thought about it. Whatever's comfortable. You don't have meetings in the morning and then go play golf. You may stand up on the quad so you can see a lot. I'm going to be visible." Both Towers and Gibson entered the calendar year in the final seasons of their contracts but just days before spring training were given extensions of undetermined length. When asked when he planned to make decisions on whether they would be back next season, La Russa said, "I don't think the timing for each of those has to coincide. "I just think that at this point, we're at August 18," La Russa said. "I've been around three months. I've observed a lot, talked to and met with a lot of people in the organization. I have a much better idea. "Also, I see a lot of good things happening in this organization. I haven't seen the rookie clubs, but from the A-ball clubs up to the big-league club."

Walk-off hands D-backs 3rd straight loss By Associated Press / FOX Sports Arizona

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http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/story/walk-off-hand-d-backs-3rd-straight-loss-081814 WASHINGTON -- Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson's description of the decisive inning Monday night amounted to a contest between youth and experience. Experience won. Adam LaRoche hit a game-winning solo home run with two outs in the 11th inning to help the Washington Nationals beat the Diamondbacks 5-4 Monday night for their seventh straight win. LaRoche's game-ending shot came after the first three Diamondbacks reached base against winning pitcher Craig Stammen (3-4) in the top of the 11th, but Arizona failed to score. "We had some young guys up there," Gibson said. "They didn't get it done and they had a veteran guy in LaRoche. He's a good breaking ball hitter, and got one hung a little bit and he hit it out." Stammen struck out 23-year-old Jake Lamb and 24-year-old Didi Gregorius before pinch hitter Cliff Pennington grounded out. "We missed our opportunity, me striking out instead of putting the ball in play," Gregorius said. Gibson was quick to point out the duo's successes Monday night, as they combined to drive in three runs, two on a Gregorius homer. "You've got to give them credit. They both contributed," he said. "They're younger, and it's kind of an excitable moment and they'll get better the more times they go through it." It was the third walk-off win in as many days for NL-East leading Washington. LaRoche sent a 3-1 pitch from Will Harris (0-3) off the wall in the back of the Nationals bullpen and was mobbed by his teammates at home plate. "I got every bit of it, I did," LaRoche said after his first career walk-off homer. Arizona tied it 4-4 when David Peralta led off the ninth with a solo homer off Tyler Clippard. Washington trailed 3-2 when Denard Span doubled with one-out in the eighth against Brad Ziegler and Anthony Rendon followed with a triple to tie it. Jayson Werth then scored Rendon with a sacrifice fly. (VIDEO EMBEDDED) Miguel Montero had three hits for Arizona, and rookie Ender Inciarte extended his hitting streak to 18 games. Arizona had taken the lead in the top of the eighth.

Lamb drew a lead-off walk off Jordan Zimmermann, and Gregorius sent a 3-2 fastball into the Nationals bullpen for his fifth home run. Wilson Ramos had given Washington a 2-1 lead with a two-run homer off Arizona starter Vidal Nuno in the seventh. Nuno, winless in eight starts with the Diamondbacks, pitched well, allowing two runs and five hits over seven innings. Zimmermann went seven-plus innings, allowing three runs on four hits. In the fifth, the first two Diamondbacks reached base via a walk and a single. Jordan Pacheco bunt the runners over, and Lamb's sacrifice fly made it 1-0. (VIDEO EMBEDDED) SCARY MOMENT Washington second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera was shaken up, but remained in the game after a third-inning collision at second base. On a sacrifice bunt attempt by Jordan Zimmermann, Cabrera slid into second and the side of his head slammed against the knee of Gregorius's, who was fielding the throw. Cabrera remained on the ground for several minutes as manager Matt Williams and the trainer came out to check on him. STREAKING DIAMONDBACKS Inciarte is tied with Jose Abreu of the White Sox for the second longest hitting streak this season by a rookie. Abreu had a 21-game streak as well. . Mark Trumbo (1 for 4 with a walk) has reached base safely in 17 straight games, and hit safely in 15 of 17, going 21 for 61 (.344). TRAINER'S ROOM Diamondbacks: SS Chris Owings, on this disabled list with a strained left shoulder, began a rehab assignment Sunday with the team's Arizona Rookie League affiliate, going 2 for 3. Nationals: Werth (sore shoulder) was in the starting lineup for the first time since Aug. 10. . OF Nate McLouth, out since Aug. 2 with right shoulder inflammation, was scheduled to undergo an Arthrogram -- an MRI procedure that involves dye being injected into the joint -- on Monday to help determine the extent of his injury. UP NEXT Diamondbacks: RH Chase Anderson (7-4, 3.16) is 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA in his last six starts. Nationals: RH Stephen Strasburg (9-10, 2.53) pitches Tuesday at Nationals Park, where he's 7-2 with a 2.41 ERA this season.

Diamondbacks at Nationals on FOX Sports Arizona By Jack Magruder / FOX Sports Arizona http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/photos/diamondbacks-at-nationals-on-fox-sports-arizona-081814 (SLIDESHOW EMBEDDED)

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Nationals get third straight walk-off win, beat D-backs in extras: By The Numbers By Jules Tomkins / Arizona Sports http://arizonasports.com/42/1759612/Nationals-get-third-straight-walkoff-win-beat-Dbacks-in-extras-By-The-Numbers Another Vidal Nuno start, another no-decision. Since joining the Arizona Diamondbacks, the left-hander has had some poor luck, failing to get a win in eight starts in Sedona red. On Monday against the Washington Nationals, Nuno was solid again, turning in a seven-inning performance in which he allowed just five hits, two walks and two earned runs as his season ERA dipped to 3.72. But relief pitchers Brad Ziegler and Will Harris combined to allow more runs than Nuno, with the former surrendering two in the eighth inning for his eighth blown save of the season. And the latter, meanwhile, allowed a walk-off home run to Adam LaRoche in the 11th inning. It was Harris' first day with the D-backs since June. David Peralta's ninth-inning home run got Ziegler off the hook, sending the game into extras. It was his sixth of the season. And then, in the top half of the 11th, Matt Stites looked to be in line for the win when the D-backs loaded the bases with no outs against Nationals right-hander Craig Stammen. But two strikeouts and a groundout later, it would be Stammen who became the benefactor of run support, getting his third win of the season with LaRoche's aforementioned home run. Here's a look at the extra-innings loss by the numbers: 2 After going 0-for-21 in his previous six games, Didi Gregorius managed to go 2-for-5 Monday, once hitting a go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning. 3 The Nationals Monday recored their third straight walk-off win. The streak is the first time the team has accomplished as much since moving to the States from Montreal. 6.75 Ziegler hasn't looked himself over the last couple of months. In his 16 most recent appearances, the right-handed relief pitcher has pitched to a 6.75 ERA, blowing four saves in that span and going on to lose one. 7 Nuno matched his career high in strikeouts Monday, fanning seven Nationals hitters while walking two. The left-hander threw 87 pitches, 59 for strikes. 9

Ender Inciarte stole his ninth base of the season Monday, swiping third base. 9.45 Harris has a 9.45 ERA on the season, having allowed 14 earned runs in just 13.1 innings pitched. He has surrendered three home runs in those appearances. Before Monday, his last appearance with the team came June 16, when he gave up three runs in one third of an inning against the Milwaukee Brewers. At Triple-A Reno, however, the right-hander has a 0.99 ERA in 45.2 innings pitched, allowing just five earned runs. 12 Miguel Montero is hitting .324 over his last 10 games, after going 3-for-4 with a walk Monday.

WALK4EDUCATION SHOWCASES PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ SUCCESSES AT D-BACKS GAME By Doreen Zannis / Support Our Schools AZ http://azednews.com/2014/08/18/walk4education-showcases-public-schools-successes-at-d-backs-game/ With over 1 million students attending Arizona’s public district schools, it is time to stand up, be counted as education supporters and showcase student success. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Support Our SchoolsAz and public district schools and students will partner together in a Walk4Education on Saturday, Sept.13, 2014, beginning at 2 p.m. at Chase Field, located at 401 E. Jefferson, Phoenix. Registration opens at 1:45 p.m. The event will showcase what students can and are achieving with a high quality public school educational experience using visual displays, speakers and demonstrations of learning. “The Walk4Education will measurably move the broad public conversation and perception needle toward greater understanding and support of public district schools as a delivery point of high quality education,” said Doreen Zannis, event organizer and executive director of Support Our SchoolsAz. “We are grateful to the Arizona Diamondbacks and the educational community for their support of this inaugural event and hope to continue for many years to come.” In baseball terms, First Base will be to view achievements of showcased children, participate in fun family activities, learn from other school districts and share successes from schools throughout Arizona. Second Base will be the Diamondbacks pre-game activities. Third Base will be to enjoy the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Padres baseball game with other families and educators. In addition, it is Paul Goldschmidt Bobblehead day! Everyone will hit a Home Run by celebrating over 1 million students and families who choose to send their children to Arizona’s great public district schools!

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Tickets are only $10 per adult and $5 per child (2-18). Scholarships may be available for those who cannot afford to participate. To register or for more information go www.Walk4Education.com.

NATIONAL.

LaRoche finally gets biggest type of hit By Mark Simon / ESPN http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/94361/laroche-finally-gets-biggest-type-of-hit Washington Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche has been getting big hits all month. On Monday, he got the one big hit that had eluded him throughout his career. The Nationals won another kooky thriller by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks on LaRoche’s first career walk-off home run. LaRoche entered the day with 235 career regular-season homers, the second most of any player who didn’t have a walk-off home run. The only player with more is Mark Teixeira, who has 361, though Teixeira did hit a walk-off homer in the 2009 ALDS against the Minnesota Twins. The hit continued a big run through August for LaRoche, who has a .306/.419/.677 slash line for the month, with six home runs and 12 RBIs in 17 games. His 1.096 OPS ranks third-best in the National League this month, trailing only Starling Marte (1.154) and Giancarlo Stanton (1.144). He also entered the day with the seventh-highest Win Probability Added in the majors for the month. That stat, found on both Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs.com, measures situational performance. This marked the second time in three days that he hit a key home run late in a game. On Saturday, LaRoche hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning against Pittsburgh Pirates lefty Tony Watson in a game the Nationals would go on to win. How he’s hitting LaRoche is doing this by crushing a pitch in a specific area, the outer half of the plate (and a little bit off the outside corner). Five of LaRoche’s six home runs this month have come on pitches to that location. He entered the month with only six total home runs on outer-half pitches this season. LaRoche’s value LaRoche has been a big part of the Nationals’ success. Washington is 63-41 when he starts, 7-12 when he does not. His 2.4 Wins Above Replacement are his second most in any major league season. Elias Sports Bureau Stat of the Day The Nationals' three consecutive walk-off wins matches a franchise record set by the Montreal Expos from June 26-28, 1988.

The 30: The Young and the Rising By Jonah Keri / Grantland

http://grantland.com/features/mlb-the-30-mariners-athletics-reds-diamondbacks-chris-young/ No division has produced more intrigue this year than the AL West. The Angels and A’s boast the top two records in baseball, and along with the division-rival Mariners own three of the top four run differentials in the majors. All three AL West contenders made significant moves ahead of last month’s non-waiver trade deadline, solidifying their rosters for the stretch run. Now, two fierce races are unfolding. What was once a six-game lead for the A’s over the Halos has evaporated, with the teams tied atop the standings and the Angels holding a .001 edge in winning percentage. Meanwhile, the M’s have grabbed the lead in the hunt for the second wild-card spot, riding a hot streak that has seen them win 10 out of 12 and vault to a half-game lead over the Tigers in the standings. One of baseball’s lowest-revenue and lowest-payroll teams is vying for its third consecutive division title, and two teams that were below .500 last year are emerging as real threats for this October, all of which should make for a wild final six weeks. So start running for it: (VIDEO EMBEDDED) Do a little twirl: (VIDEO EMBEDDED) Appreciate the wonders of youth: (PHOTO EMBEDDED) And remember to celebrate responsibly: (GIF EMBEDDED) t’s Week 20 of The 30. Bat Flip Back Flip of the Week! Much as I enjoy the weekly exercise of trying to find someone better than Yasiel Puig at flipping bats, I’m changing the theme this week. Facing the A’s on Monday night, the surging Royals secured a 3-2 victory that propelled them into first place, the first time since 2003 they’d led their division this late in the season. Showing his keen awareness of the moment, Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson squeezed the final out of the game, then channeled his inner Ozzie Smith: (VIDEO EMBEDDED) Rocky Mountain Low Season-ending injuries for Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez drop the Rockies into the 30-hole. 30. Colorado Rockies (49-75, -69 run differential, no. 29 last week) 29. Texas Rangers (48-76, -135, LW: 30) 28. Houston Astros (52-73, -91, LW: 28)

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27. Arizona Diamondbacks (53-71, -91, LW: 27) 26. Chicago Cubs (53-70, -52, LW: 26) 25. Philadelphia Phillies (54-70, -78, LW: 24) 24. Minnesota Twins (55-67, -41, LW: 25) 23. Boston Red Sox (56-67, -56, LW: 23) 22. Chicago White Sox (59-65, -55, LW: 21) 21. San Diego Padres (58-65, -10, LW: 22) 20. New York Mets (59-66, -4, LW: 20) The 2014 Diamondbacks aren’t a really talented team that hit a rough patch this year but have a chance to win it all next year following a few tweaks; this is a ball club in need of reconstructive surgery. Here are a few changes to expect between now and Opening Day 2015: • At least a bit of payroll relief: The Diamondbacks are paying J.J. Putz the remainder of his $7 million annual salary to no longer pitch for them, but won’t have to carry that burden next year. Cliff Pennington has been a solid contributor off the bench this year, but it’s hard to see Arizona going to arbitration with him after the utility infielder earned $3.25 million this season. David Hernandez also looks like a long shot for arbitration, considering he made $2.1 million this year despite missing the season following Tommy John surgery and might not be back to 100 percent until around next year’s All-Star break. Plus, Arizona no longer has to worry about paying Martin Prado $22 million total in 2015 and 2016, since it traded him to the Yankees in July. Together, all of that should allow the Diamondbacks to deal with the $55 million owed in 2015 to the mediocre fivesome of Miguel Montero, Aaron Hill, Trevor Cahill, Bronson Arroyo, and Cody Ross, and still have money left over to upgrade a few positions. (VIDEO EMBEDDED) • Patrick Corbin’s return: The Diamondbacks’ best pitcher last season had Tommy John surgery this spring, so returning by Opening Day 2015 might be asking too much, and returning to 2013 form could take considerably longer. Still, after a string of injuries annihilated the staff this season and all but ended the team’s chances in the NL West, Arizona will take what it can get. • The kids will get their chance: Archie Bradley entered the season as one of the best pitching prospects in the game and a top-10 overall prospect according to Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN’s Keith Law, and MLB.com. However, he missed a month due to an elbow strain and has struggled with command for most of the season, walking 41 batters in 77.2 innings across three levels. As Law wrote last month, the challenge now is figuring out whether to keep exposing Bradley to the pitching horrors of the Pacific Coast League, or to expedite his path to The Show. Other intriguing prospects and young players to watch heading into 2015 include right-handed starter Braden Shipley, last year’s first-round pick who has already made it to Double-A; fellow righty starter Aaron Blair, a supplemental first-round pick last year who has also arrived at Double-A; Jake Barrett, a third-round pick in 2012 who has saved 24 games between Double-A and Triple-A this season and could nab a high-leverage relief role with the big club; and Chris Owings, who had already grabbed the starting shortstop job with the Diamondbacks this year before becoming yet another DL victim.

• Change at the top: Manager Kirk Gibson and GM Kevin Towers might not be around much longer. The team’s dismal performance, its well-earned reputation for general jerkiness, and the hiring of Tony La Russa to essentially perform the role of the Two Bobs suggests that big change could be afoot. It’s too soon to know what that would mean for the club, since we don’t actually know if anyone is leaving, let alone who the replacements might be. Regardless, getting all that pitching talent up to the majors, spending wisely this winter, and escaping this season’s injury demons should help the Diamondbacks compete next year … or at least avoid similarly horrific results. Living on the Edge Tough times knock a handful of preseason contenders to the brink of also-ran status. 19. Cincinnati Reds (61-63, +19, LW: 16) 18. Miami Marlins (62-62, -26, LW: 19) 17. Tampa Bay Rays (61-63, +23, LW: 18) 16. Cleveland Indians (62-61, +13, LW: 17) 15. New York Yankees (63-59, -37, LW: 14) 14. Toronto Blue Jays (64-61, +9, LW: 12) 13. Atlanta Braves (64-60, +3, LW: 15) 12. Pittsburgh Pirates (64-60, +6, LW: 10) While handicapping the Reds’ chances last month in a column on the NL Central, I noted that the club rolled into the All-Star break at 51-44, just a game and a half out of first place and seemingly in position to make a playoff run, but introduced the caveat that injuries to Joey Votto and others could very well doom Cincinnati. Sure enough, the Reds have gone 10-19 since, all but ending their chances at an NL Central crown and seriously harming their wild-card hopes. For that, they can blame a rash of injuries even worse than what plagued them in July. To illustrate how bad Cincinnati’s injury situation has become, I put together a little chart that examines the teams with the biggest year-over-year drop in win-loss record, and the total games lost to injury for each club’s top five players (designated as the top five 2013 holdovers based on Wins Above Replacement). Here are the results (source for injury days: Baseball Prospectus): (CHART EMBEDDED) This isn’t a perfect metric, namely because it fails to account for long absences from valuable players who weren’t quite top-five performers on their teams last year, like Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy for the Braves, Wil Myers for the Rays, etc. Still, the key takeaway remains: The Reds have been absolutely slammed by injuries this season, with top contributors like Votto, Jay Bruce, Mat Latos, Homer Bailey, Aroldis Chapman, and Brandon Phillips all suffering injuries. The Reds haven’t quite suffered under the weight of injuries the way that, say, the crash-and-burn Rangers have. Still, no matter how much breakout players like Johnny Cueto, Devin Mesoraco, Todd Frazier, and Billy Hamilton have brought to the table, the odds of overcoming this avalanche of absences now lie somewhere between slim and none. The Upstarts

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The surging Royals and Mariners are trying to break long playoff droughts. 11. San Francisco Giants (65-58, +30, LW: 13) 10. St. Louis Cardinals (66-57, -8, LW: 9) 9. Detroit Tigers (66-56, +34, LW: 7) 8. Seattle Mariners (67-56, +99, LW: 11) 7. Kansas City Royals (68-55, +29, LW: 8) There are all kinds of reasons for the Mariners’ success this season. There’s King Felix, who’s having one of the best seasons of any starting pitcher in years. There’s Seattle’s bullpen, which is on pace to post the third-lowest ERA of any AL team’s relief crew since the introduction of the designated hitter in 1973. There’s the team’s strong defense, which ranks somewhere between very good and the best in baseball1 depending on which advanced stat you consult. And there’s Robinson Cano, who’s missing his trademark power numbers this season but is still flourishing in the first season of his polarizing 10-year contract. There has also been a huge surprise factor: Chris Young. Over the past decade, Young has gone from being a promising young starter, to an All-Star, to struggling amid a litany of terrible injuries, to posting a 6.81 ERA last year during a full season in the minors, to being an indispensable part of Seattle’s rotation this season and a leading candidate for Comeback Player of the Year. To fully understand the unlikely nature of the 6-foot-10, 35-year-old Frisbee chucker’s big season, we need to start by talking about Randy Wolf.2 The back of the Mariners’ rotation was so fraught with uncertainty this spring that Wolf, who posted a 5.65 ERA in 2012 and then missed all of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, won the fifth starter’s job. Just before the end of camp, however, the M’s released Wolf due to a contract dispute, and the Nationals released Young, figuring (correctly) that their rotation would be set following the addition of Doug Fister and the emergence of Tanner Roark. On March 27, the Mariners picked up Young on a one-year, $1.25 million contract. They’ve been laughing their way to the bank ever since. On Sunday, Young shut down a Tigers offense that has struggled lately but remains the second best in baseball overall, allowing just four hits over six scoreless innings while striking out four and walking just one. As usual, Young’s fastball made the radar gun laugh derisively, topping out at 87 mph and averaging just 85. With an average velocity just above 85 mph overall on the season, Young has thrown slower than all but two other starting pitchers, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and his veteran Jays teammate Mark Buehrle. Yet Sunday’s 8-1 win over Detroit shoved Young’s ERA down to 3.07 for the year, better than David Price’s or Madison Bumgarner’s and just an eyelash behind Yu Darvish’s. Young has been particularly dominant in his last 12 starts, delivering a 2.45 ERA during that span. (VIDEO EMBEDDED) So how can we explain Young’s sudden resurgence? Despite Young’s impressive 3.07 ERA, his 4.58 FIP is the third-highest

among all AL starters, with the gap between Young’s FIP and ERA the largest in all of baseball. At first glance, he seems to be benefiting from some luck. He’s allowing a microscopic .224 batting average on balls in play, the lowest among qualified AL starters, and way below the league average of .296. Though pitchers do have some control over BABIP,3 the stat is still heavily influenced by team defense, park factors, and, yes, luck. Some of the nastiest pitchers in the game — including Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Zack Greinke, Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, Corey Kluber, Bumgarner, and Darvish — have posted BABIPs above .300 this season. ESPN tracks a stat called Hard Hit Average, which can heavily influence BABIP, since harder contact tends to lead to more hits. But that stat doesn’t help to explain Young’s incredibly low BABIP: The veteran is actually faring poorly in Hard Hit Average this year, ranking among the 10 worst AL starters. To fully understand Young’s success, we need to reframe his results to extend beyond luck. I mentioned earlier that the Mariners’ defense has been outstanding this year, converting more balls in play into outs than any other team. And even after moving in the fences, Safeco Field remains a highly favorable ballpark for pitchers. A decade after making his major league debut, Young appears to be keenly aware of his limitations, having long ago shut out the critics who wondered why a 6-10 pitcher couldn’t throw harder. It’s entirely reasonable to assume he’s aware of the defense and park factors working in his favor, and to assert that his slider is now his best pitch. So he has thrown a ton of them, limiting opponents to a .160 batting average against his slider this year, and inducing lots of weak, catchable contact on that pitch that has helped facilitate his success despite his low velocity and terrible strikeout rate. And while the Mariners’ defense travels with Young wherever he may go, the Safeco effects are also undeniable: Young’s home ERA on the season is 2.35. On the road? 3.93. Young also knows he can get away with pitching up in the zone, especially at Safeco. According to ESPN data, Young ranks ninth among all starting pitchers at generating what broadcasters often call a “rising fastball” — or in more technical terms, per ESPN research, “the vertical change in pitch location resulting from the spin on the pitch measured in inches.” In terms of the raw number of pitches up in the zone, Young ranks fourth, trailing only Cueto, Price, and Chris Tillman. This is by design: The only area in which Young truly excels when compared to league average is on pitches in the upper half of the zone — his .226 BABIP allowed on those pitches ranks seventh in MLB.4 If Young throws his fastball in the right spot, complements it with his wipeout slider, and trusts the outstanding defense playing behind him, he becomes the kind of pitcher who can lead Seattle rather than drag it down. A little bit of skill, a little bit of luck, and a little bit of experience are working in his favor and producing a whole lot of great results for the surging Mariners. Changing of the Guard A five-game losing streak knocks the A’s from their perch atop these rankings. 6. Los Angeles Dodgers (70-56, +50, LW: 3) 5. Milwaukee Brewers (70-55, +44, LW: 6)

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4. Baltimore Orioles (70-52, +54, LW: 4) 3. Washington Nationals (69-53, +92, LW: 5) 2. Oakland A’s (73-51, +161, LW: 1) 1. Los Angeles Angels (72-50, +87, LW: 2) For the last three months, the A’s held the best record in baseball while amassing a run differential that dwarfed that of all other teams. What’s more, they looked poised to improve, getting catalyst Coco Crisp back from injuries and beefing up an already strong rotation by adding Jeff Samardzija, Jason Hammel, and Jon Lester in blockbuster trades. Despite all those good tidings, the inevitable slump has hit, with the A’s losing five in a row and falling into a virtual tie with the Angels atop the AL West standings. There are two main causes for this slump: 1. The offense has gone cold. In the past 14 days, the A’s have posted a team wRC+ of 91, meaning that on a park-adjusted basis, they’ve been 9 percent worse than the average club. Crisp has been one of the biggest slumpers. Since returning from a seven-game, injury-induced absence on August 4, Oakland’s leadoff hitter has managed just six hits in 46 at-bats. The bottom of the order, and middle of the infield, is also in rough shape. With starting shortstop Jed Lowrie on the disabled list, the A’s have cobbled together a platoon of Eric Sogard (.214/.298/.270, even after a modest recent hitting streak) and Andy Parrino (a career .184 hitter who just got called up from the minors) at short, with Alberto Callaspo (.234/.302/.300) at second. Crisp’s track record of success suggests he’ll bounce back soon enough, but the A’s could really use Lowrie back as soon as possible, given the replacement-level combination manning the middle of the infield in his absence; they’re hoping the hairline fracture in his finger will heal in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, the A’s will keep an eye out for available talent, though they might have a tough time landing a player good enough to help them but fungible enough (or expensive enough) to make it to their waiver position. 2. Sonny Gray has fallen on hard times. (GIF EMBEDDED) I wrote about the tenuous success of Oakland’s pitching at the time of the Samardzija/Hammel deal, noting that a journeyman like Jesse Chavez might start to struggle after a blazing start, and that even a pitcher as talented as Gray could hit a rough patch, especially as his innings count started reaching unchartered territory. Chavez did hit a wall, and got demoted to the bullpen. And Gray passed his pro career high in innings pitched two starts ago, with the results suddenly turning ugly. In his last three starts, Gray has tossed 16.2 innings, allowed 14 runs (12 earned) on 24 hits, and eight walks, with opponents batting .338 with a .413 on-base percentage against him. Slumps happen all the time in baseball, so the A’s will sit and hope that Gray’s is merely a small blip within an otherwise excellent season. Because with Hammel flashing a 6.75 ERA in seven starts with the A’s, Chavez turning into a pumpkin, Tommy Milone now with the Twins, Dan Straily now with the Cubs, and every major bullet in Billy Beane’s chamber likely already fired in those two huge trades for pitching, even a team

as powerful as Oakland can’t afford to have Gray scuffle much longer. After dominating the league for months, settling for a wild-card berth and a one-game playoff — possibly against a world-beater like Seattle’s Hernandez — isn’t something any A’s fan wants to contemplate. Nats beat Diamondbacks in third straight walk-off win By Mark Zuckerman / CSN Washington http://www.csnwashington.com/baseball-washington-nationals/talk/nats-beat-diamondbacks-third-straight-walk-win?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo GAME IN A NUTSHELL: Riding a season-high 6-game winning streak that included a weekend sweep of the contending Pirates, the Nationals opened a 4-game series against the non-contending Diamondbacks feeling mighty good about themselves. What they didn't expect was a real battle against unknown Arizona left-hander Vidal Nuno, who went toe-to-toe with Jordan Zimmermann, and then a wild finish that left the crowd alternating between elation and dejection every couple of minutes. Down 1-0 in the seventh, Wilson Ramos destroyed a 1-2 breaking ball from Nuno over the center-field fence, a 2-run homer that gave the Nationals the lead for the first time all night and brought what had been a lifeless ballpark back from the dead. That lead was short-lived, though, because Zimmermann immediately served up a 2-run homer to Didi Gregorius that put Arizona back on top. The Nationals stormed right back against reliever Brad Ziegler, getting a double from Denard Span, a triple from Anthony Rendon and a sac fly from Jayson Werth that gave them the lead again. But Tyler Clippard, pitching the ninth after Rafael Soriano appeared four of the last five days, immediately blew the save, serving up a towering home run to David Peralta and ultimately sending this one to extra innings. Craig Stammen nearly lost it in the top of the 11th, loading the bases with nobody out before somehow escaping the jam unscathed. That set the stage for Adam LaRoche to be the hero. LaRoche launched his sixth homer in 12 games to end this one in the bottom of the 11th. His first career walk-off homer gave the Nationals a 7-game winning streak, the last three of which have come in walk-off fashion. HITTING HIGHLIGHT: The go-ahead rally in the eighth came exclusively from the top of the Nationals' lineup, which has been so good all season. Span got things started with a one-out double to left-center. Rendon then followed with his RBI triple into the right-field corner. With the tying run on third, Werth did exactly what the situation called for and lined a ball to left fielder Mark Trumbo, who couldn't throw home in time to get Rendon. A well-executed, impressive rally from three guys who have been there for the Nationals so many times this season.

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PITCHING LOWLIGHT: After Soriano blew his fifth save of the season Sunday and departed to a chorus of boos, fans wondered whether Matt Williams might decide it was time to make a change at closer. It was, but not a permanent change. Soriano got the night off to rest his arm (and perhaps mind) so it was Clippard getting the ball for the ninth. That quickly proved troublesome, though, when Peralta mashed his pitch off the facade of the second deck in right field. Maybe this closing thing isn't quite as easy as everyone would hope. KEY STAT: Total runs scored in innings 1-through-5 the last two days: 1. Total runs scored from the sixth inning on: 19. UP NEXT: Game 2 of this 4-game series will see Stephen Strasburg trying to even his record at 10-10 against Arizona right-hander Chase Anderson. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Nationals win in walkoff fashion for third consecutive day By Matt Snyder / CBS Sports http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24667107/nationals-win-in-walkoff-fashion-for-third-consecutive-day Saturday's Nationals win ended like this: (VIDEO EMBEDDED) Sunday's ended like this: (VIDEO EMBEDDED) And Monday's concluded like this: (VIDEO EMBEDDED) That means the Nationals have now won seven games in a row overall and are a season-high 17 games over .500. The Braves won Monday night, so the lead is still six games in the NL East. At 70-53, Washington boasts the best record in the NL. As far as three straight walkoff victories, that's the second time this season that a team has pulled it off. The Rays did so May 22-24. The Blue Jays recently did it twice in a row. The Red Sox did it two straight on July 9-10, just as the Rockies and did in May, the Cardinals did in July and Giants did in April. The Padres had two straight walkoff wins in both early May and early August. The Pirates did so in the first two games of the season and the Rangers did in games two and three. The Marlins did it three times in four games in early May. But only two have strung together three straight. The record for consecutive walkoff wins is five, which was done by the 1986 Houston Astros, who won the NL West with a 96-66 record. The Nationals have six games left on their homestand, so it's at least possible (albeit unbelievably unlikely) to run this thing to nine games.

VIDEO: Adam LaRoche homers to give Nationals third straight walk-off victory By D.J. Short / NBC Sports

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/08/18/video-adam-laroche-homers-to-give-nationals-third-straight-walk-off-victory/ The Nationals are making a habit out of this whole walk-off thing. Adam LaRoche connected for a solo home run in the bottom of the 11th inning this evening to give the Nationals a dramatic 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks at Nationals Park. The Nationals have now won seven consecutive games, including three in a row in walk-off fashion. You don’t see that very often. Watch video of the game-winning homer below: (VIDEO EMBEDDED) Tonight’s game was an entertaining back-and-forth affair. Arizona grabbed an early lead before Wilson Ramos put the Nationals in front in the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-run homer. The Diamondbacks quickly took the lead back with a two-run shot from Didi Gregorius in the top of the eighth, but the Nationals stormed back in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI triple from Anthony Rendon and a sacrifice fly from Jayson Werth. Tyler Clippard, filling in for Rafael Soriano, then blew the save in the top of the ninth before the Nationals won the game in extras. Believe it or not, this was LaRoche’s first career walk-off homer. After a bit of a power outage, he has gone deep six times in his last 12 games and is now up to 19 homers on the year. The Nationals now sit at 70-53 on the season, six games up on the Braves in the National League East. They own the best record in the National League.

Nationals win on LaRoche homer in 11th Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/19/bbo-diamondbacks-nationals-writethru-idUSMTZEA8JJ8UYVT20140819 Nationals win on LaRoche homer in 11th WASHINGTON -- It took Adam LaRoche 5,048 at-bats to do something for the first time in his career Monday night. The Washington Nationals probably felt it was worth the wait. LaRoche hit the first walk-off homer of his career, a solo shot that came with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning, giving the Washington Nationals their seventh consecutive victory, a 5-4 decision over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a four-game series. In addition to a seventh straight victory, the Nationals (70-53) scored a third consecutive walk-off win. Washington kept its six-game lead over Atlanta in the National League East as the Braves also won Monday. LaRoche admitted afterward that he had wondered whether he would ever get a walk-off. After all, the first baseman now is in his 11th season. But Arizona right-hander Will Harris (0-3), called up earlier in the day, surprised LaRoche with a 3-1 curveball that the veteran crushed.

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"I got every bit of that one," LaRoche said with a smile. "Nice to get my first [walk-off]. Took me long enough. It was a good feeling." LaRoche and the Nationals almost didn't get that feeling because in the top of the 11th, the D-backs (53-72) loaded the bases with no outs before right-hander Craig Stammen (3-4) struck out third baseman Jake Lamb and shortstop Didi Gregorius and then got pinch hitter Cliff Pennington on a grounder to second. "I just made good pitches, and they didn't hit them," Stammen said. "I got lucky. Obviously, the cards were stacked against me, and there was only a certain way I was going to get out of it, and . . . that's the way it went." Gregorius made some nice plays on defense and hit a two-run homer earlier but was frustrated at his strikeout in the 11th. "We had bases loaded," Gregorius said. "We missed our opportunity... me striking out instead of putting the ball in play. It wasn't fun." The Nationals have had the fun during the walk-off part of their winning streak. They rallied from a three-run deficit to beat Pittsburgh 4-3 on Saturday. On Sunday, the Pirates scored three in the ninth for a 5-4 lead before the Nationals forced extra innings and won it 6-5 in the 11th. "It's part of the game; it just happens sometimes," Washington manager Matt Williams said. "You never want it by any means, but if you are given the situation you have one choice, you can give up or you can fight, and these guys fight so that's great." The Diamondbacks forced extra innings on Monday when Nationals right-hander Tyler Clippard couldn't protect a 4-3 lead in the ninth. Closer Rafael Soriano has been used a lot lately, so Williams wanted Clippard to try for his second save. It didn't happen because right fielder David Peralta led off with a homer to right, tying the score at 4-4. The offenses were quiet for the first six innings until Washington catcher Wilson Ramos (2-for-4) hit a two-run homer off Arizona starter Vidal Nuno in the seventh for a 2-1 lead. Gregorius then lined a two-run homer to right field in the top of the eighth. That ended Washington starter Jordan Zimmermann's night and gave Arizona a 3-2 lead. The Nationals scored twice in the eighth against right-hander Brad Ziegler. Third baseman Anthony Rendon tied it with an RBI triple, and right fielder Jayson Werth put the Nationals up 4-3 with a sacrifice fly. Neither team did much in the early going. The Nationals stopped two potential Arizona rallies by turning double plays to end the first and third innings -- the latter coming when Nuno tried to sacrifice, and Washington turned it into a 5-6-4 twin killing.

The D-backs finally broke through in the top of the fifth. Left fielder Mark Trumbo (walk) and catcher Miguel Montero (single) reached to put runners on first and second with no outs. They both moved up on first baseman Jordan Pacheco's sacrifice, and Trumbo scored on Lamb's sacrifice fly to deep center for the game's first run. Zimmermann pitched seven innings of three-run ball, while Nuno allowed two runs in seven innings. Montero finished 3-for-4, and Gregorius contributed two hits for Arizona, which suffered another frustrating loss. "It was a good game," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "We just didn't come out on top." NOTES: RF Jayson Werth returned to the Washington starting lineup for the first time since Aug. 7. He was sidelined, except for brief appearances in three games, by a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder. Werth walked and doubled after coming in late during Sunday's 6-5 victory over the Pirates. ...The Nationals signed OF Nate Schierholtz to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Syracuse. Schierholtz has played 776 games in the major leagues with the Cubs, Phillies and Giants and is a good pinch hitter (.289 average in 166 career at-bats there). ... The Diamondbacks brought up RHP Will Harris from Triple-A Reno before the game. He was 0-2 with a 9.24 ERA in 12 games with Arizona earlier this season. To make room for Harris, the D-backs optioned RHP Bradin Hagens back to Triple-A Reno. Hagens pitched in his first two major league games recently and had an 0-1 record with a 3.38 ERA

Arizona Diamondbacks - PlayerWatch Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/18/bbo-diamondbacks-playerwatch-idUSMTZEA8IIHXQ7J20140818 RHP Josh Collmenter (8-7) got off to an awful start on Sunday against the Marlins. He allowed a double to Christian Yelich to lead off the first inning. Then he got ahead of Jeff Baker 0-2 but lost him with four straight balls. Had he retired Baker, he could have worked around Giancarlo Stanton with first base open. Instead, he fell behind 3-1 to Stanton, gave in on a fastball, and the result was a three-run homer. Stanton leads the majors in homers with 32 and the National League with 88 RBIs, so having to challenge him there was a big problem for a pitcher who does not have a blazing fastball. Garrett Jones added a solo homer later in the first inning, and Collmenter ended up allowing five runs in four innings, taking the loss. LHP Wade Miley (foot) reported no further issues after his injury scare on Saturday. SS Chris Owings (strained left shoulder) began a rehab assignment in the rookie-level Arizona League on Sunday, going 2-for-3. He will step up his rehab Friday when he reports to Triple-A Reno. CF Ender Inciarte had a bunt single on Sunday against the Marlins, extending his hit streak to 17 games. That's the longest hit streak ever for an Arizona rookie. It's also the longest active hit streak in the majors. The only MLB player to have a longer

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hit streak this season was Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox, who did it twice. He had streaks of 18 and 21 games. LHP Vidal Nuno, technically still a rookie, won one game for the New York Yankees last year and two this year. But he is still looking for his first win with Arizona and will get another opportunity on Monday at the Washington Nationals. This will be the first time Nuno, 27, faces the Nationals. He has a 4.53 career ERA and has allowed three runs or less in four of his seven starts for the D-Backs. In his most recent start, a 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians, Nuno got a no-decision, allowing two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. 1B Mark Trumbo has reached base in 16 game consecutive games, the second-longest streak of his career. He reached base in 27 straight from Sept. 30, 2012 to April 27, 2013. Trumbo went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and an RBI against the Marlins on Sunday.

Arizona Diamondbacks - TeamReport Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/18/bbo-diamondbacks-teamreport-idUSMTZEA8IHKWD4U20140818 MLB Team Report - Arizona Diamondbacks - INSIDE PITCH MIAMI -- Right-handers Archie Bradley and Braden Shipley are more than just two minor-league players. Together, these two 22-year-olds carry much of the hopes and dreams of the Arizona Diamondbacks fans and front-office executives. The current Arizona pitching staff ranks next-to-last in the National League in team ERA. Part of the problems is a lack of power arms. No pitcher on the current D-Backs staff can consistently throw north of 94 mph. Enter Bradley, the ninth-best prospect in all of baseball. He can hit 97 mph with his fastball. Enter, too, Shipley, who is ranked baseball's 62nd-best prospect and can dial it up to 98 mph. Bradley, a 6-4, 235-pounder out of Oklahoma, was Arizona's first-round pick in 2011, No. 7 overall. He went 12-6 in 2012, his first full year of pro ball, and was dominant last year, going 14-5 with a 1.84 ERA as he shuffled between Class A and Double-A. This year, though, Bradley has struggled. He went 1-4 with a 5.18 ERA in five Triple-A starts before being sent back down to Double-A, where he is 2-2 with a 3.77 ERA. But scouting reports indicate he has a "plus, plus fastball with late life" and a "plus curve". He also has a changeup that could become an above-average pitch. Some scouts consider him the game's premier power-pitching prospect. Shipley, who is 6-3 and 190 pounds, played shortstop as a college freshman at Nevada-Reno. But he was converted to pitcher before his sophomore year and soon became a dominant

college pitcher and the D-Backs' first-round pick -- No. 15 overall -- in 2013. He's 6-10 with a 4.16 ERA so far in his minor-league career. But he has averaged more than a strikeout per inning and recently joined Bradley at Double-A Mobile. Scouts say Shipley has a "clean, repeatable" delivery and has developed very quickly given his late start on the mound. Could we see either or both of these talented pitchers in the big leagues next month when MLB rosters can expand up to 40 players? It's possible -- certainly, Bradley's agent has been publicly pushing for his client to be promoted to the majors. But it's also very possible that neither is quite ready yet and the D-Backs decide to wait until sometime next year. ----------------------------------------------- MLB Team Report - Arizona Diamondbacks - NOTES, QUOTES RECORD: 53-71 STREAK: Lost two NEXT: Diamondbacks (LHP Vidal Nuno, 0-3, 3.92 ERA) at Nationals (RHP Jordan Zimmermann, 8-5, 2.92 ERA) PLAYER NOTES: --LHP Vidal Nuno, technically still a rookie, won one game for the New York Yankees last year and two this year. But he is still looking for his first win with Arizona and will get another opportunity on Monday at the Washington Nationals. This will be the first time Nuno, 27, faces the Nationals. He has a 4.53 career ERA and has allowed three runs or less in four of his seven starts for the D-Backs. In his most recent start, a 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians, Nuno got a no-decision, allowing two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. --RHP Josh Collmenter (8-7) got off to an awful start on Sunday against the Marlins. He allowed a double to Christian Yelich to lead off the first inning. Then he got ahead of Jeff Baker 0-2 but lost him with four straight balls. Had he retired Baker, he could have worked around Giancarlo Stanton with first base open. Instead, he fell behind 3-1 to Stanton, gave in on a fastball, and the result was a three-run homer. Stanton leads the majors in homers with 32 and the National League with 88 RBIs, so having to challenge him there was a big problem for a pitcher who does not have a blazing fastball. Garrett Jones added a solo homer later in the first inning, and Collmenter ended up allowing five runs in four innings, taking the loss. --CF Ender Inciarte had a bunt single on Sunday against the Marlins, extending his hit streak to 17 games. That's the longest hit streak ever for an Arizona rookie. It's also the longest active hit streak in the majors. The only MLB player to have a longer hit streak this season was Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox, who did it twice. He had streaks of 18 and 21 games.

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--1B Mark Trumbo has reached base in 16 game consecutive games, the second-longest streak of his career. He reached base in 27 straight from Sept. 30, 2012 to April 27, 2013. Trumbo went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and an RBI against the Marlins on Sunday. QUOTE TO NOTE: "He's a smart player. He utilizes his tools very well." -- Arizona manager Kirk Gibson, of CF Ender Inciarte, whose bunt single Sunday extended his hitting streak to 17 games. That's the longest hit streak ever for an Arizona rookie. ----------------------------------------------- MLB Team Report - Arizona Diamondbacks - ROSTER REPORT MEDICAL WATCH: --SS Chris Owings (strained left shoulder) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to June 26. An MRI exam July 1 showed no structural damage. He hit balls off a tee Aug. 7. He will step up his rehab on Aug. 22 when he reports to Triple-A Reno. --LHP Wade Miley (foot) reported no further issues after his injury scare on Aug. 16. --CF A.J. Pollock (broken right hand) went on the 15-day disabled list June 1. He underwent surgery June 2 to repair a fractured fourth metacarpal. He took batting practice July 22. He began a rehab assignment in the rookie-level Arizona League on Aug. 1. He was hit by a pitch in the right hand in an Arizona League game July 31, D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said, but it was in a different spot than the place he was hit when he suffered a fourth metacarpal fracture May 31. X-rays were negative, and Pollock returned to action in the Arizona League on Aug. 2. He transferred his rehab to Triple-A Reno on Aug. 4. He played for Reno on Aug. 8 but experienced a setback that day. The timetable for his return is uncertain. --1B Paul Goldschmidt (fractured left hand) went on the 15-day disabled list Aug. 2. He is expected to be out until at least mid-September. --RHP Daniel Hudson (Tommy John surgery in June 2013) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 29, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on June 19. He threw breaking balls in a bullpen session May 13, the first time he has spun the ball since returning to the mound in April. He threw a simulated game June 24. He threw a simulated game the last week of July and a bullpen session July 31. He began a rehab assignment in the rookie-level Arizona League on Aug. 5. The D-backs hope to get him into three to six games in September, after rosters expand. --OF Cody Ross (left calf strain) went on the 15-day disabled list July 22. --RHP Bronson Arroyo (complete tear of right ulnar collateral ligament) went on the 15-day disabled list June 16. He underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery July 15.

--LHP Matt Reynolds (Tommy John surgery in September 2013) went on the 15-day disabled list March 19, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on June 1. He threw his first bullpen session June 10. There is no timetable for his return. --RHP David Hernandez (Tommy John surgery in April 2014) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on April 14. He will miss the entire season. --LHP Patrick Corbin (Tommy John surgery in March 2014) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 19, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on April 4. He will miss the entire season. ROTATION: LHP Wade Miley RHP Chase Anderson LHP Vidal Nuno RHP Trevor Cahill RHP Josh Collmenter BULLPEN: RHP Addison Reed (closer) RHP Brad Ziegler LHP Oliver Perez RHP Evan Marshall RHP Matt Stites LHP Eury De La Rosa RHP Randall Delgado RHP Bradin Hagens CATCHERS: Miguel Montero Tuffy Gosewisch INFIELDERS: 1B Mark Trumbo 2B Aaron Hill SS Cliff Pennington 3B Jake Lamb INF Didi Gregorius

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INF/C Jordan Pacheco OUTFIELDERS: LF Alfredo Marte CF Ender Inciarte RF David Peralta OF Xavier Paul

Opposite dugout: D-backs hope to turn rough August around in Washington By Josh Land / MASN Sports http://www.masnsports.com/nationals-buzz/2014/08/opposite-dugout-diamondbacks-1.html Manager: Kirk Gibson, fifth year Record: 53-71 Last 10 games: 4-6 Who to watch: C Miguel Montero (.256/.339/.401, 20 doubles, 12 HR, 63 RBIs); 2B Aaron Hill (.245/.284/.376, 22 doubles, 10 HR, 55 RBIs); RHP Chase Anderson (7-4, 3.16 ERA, 1.30 WHIP); LHP Vidal Nuno (0-3, 3.92 ERA, 1.13 WHIP) Season series vs. Nats: 1-2, 9 runs scored, 12 runs allowed Pitching probables Aug. 18: Vidal Nuno vs. Jordan Zimmermann, 7 p.m., MASN HD Aug. 19: Chase Anderson vs. Stephen Strasburg, 7 p.m., MASN HD Aug. 20: Trevor Cahill vs. Tanner Roark, 7 p.m., MASN HD Aug. 21: Wade Miley vs. Gio Gonzalez, 4 p.m., MASN HD Series breakdown The Diamondbacks' season can be separated into three parts - the atrocious start, the righting of the ship and then, well, August. Arizona began its season in awful fashion, going 8-22 out of the gate. But the club played pretty much .500 ball from there, going 40-39 over its next 79 games through July 31. Well out of the playoff hunt, the Diamondbacks moved super utility man Martin Prado, outfielder Gerardo Parra and starter Brandon McCarthy before the non-waiver trade deadline. Then on Aug. 1, they lost star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt for the season because of a broken hand suffered when he was hit by a pitch against the Pirates. Arizona is 5-10 this month, a tumble which started the day Goldschmidt was hurt. The Diamondbacks might be depleted and diminished, but they arrive at Nationals Park hoping to regain the form that had them playing solid ball for nearly half of the season. Even without Goldschmidt, Prado and Parra, Arizona still ranks in the middle of the National League pack offensively. The Diamondbacks are seventh in the NL with 490 runs and a .692 OPS, 11th with 97 homers and fifth with a .252 average.

Catcher Miguel Montero is Arizona's top healthy bat with a .740 OPS. He ranks in the team's top three with 20 doubles, 12 homers and 63 RBIs. Second baseman Aaron Hill has contributed 22 doubles, 10 homers and 55 RBIs, but couples that with a .245 average and .660 OPS. Left fielder Mark Trumbo has been perhaps the team's hottest hitter, batting .370/.439/.522 with five extra-base hits and 13 RBIs in his last 13 games. That has lifted his season average from .196 to .238. Rookie center fielder Ender Inciarte has also been a positive as he looks to extend the longest active hitting streak in the majors. Inciarte, the Diamondbacks' leadoff man, has hits in 17 straight games to set the club's rookie record. During that run, he's batting .320. The D-backs lineup has contributed to the recent losing ways, however, as the team has scored more than four runs just twice in 15 games this month and hasn't done so in its last seven contests. Arizona's pitching hasn't helped much, as the team has allowed at least five runs seven times this month. But the Diamondbacks have had problems on the mound all season. They rank 14th in the NL with a 4.27 team ERA and 4.50 starters' ERA, and 12th with a 3.84 bullpen ERA. Arizona has had 11 different pitchers make a start this season. Left-hander Vidal Nuno and right-hander Chase Anderson lead the current rotation, and will start the first two games of the series that features four starters performing well. Nuno, 26, has pitched to a 3.92 ERA in seven starts since being acquired from the Yankees for McCarthy, but is 0-3 and the D-backs have lost all seven times he's pitched. Nuno is 2-8 with a 4.92 ERA in 24 games (21 starts) overall this season. He faces Jordan Zimmermann in tonight's series opener. Anderson has been Arizona's best starter since joining the rotation in May. The 26-year-old rookie is 7-4 with a 3.16 ERA in 15 starts. He has allowed more than three runs in a start only twice and hasn't permitted more than four since his second start. Anderson has put together a streak of six straight quality starts, during which he's 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA, holding opponents to nine runs in 37 innings. He'll go head-to-head with Stephen Strasburg on Tuesday. Right-hander Trevor Cahill goes up against Tanner Roark in the third game of the series. Cahill (3-8, 4.68 ERA), a former All-Star with the Athletics, is having his most trying season. He lost his spot in the rotation in April after posting a 9.17 ERA in his first four starts. Solid work in the bullpen helped return him to a starting role in mid-July. Cahill is 2-2 with a 3.53 ERA in six starts since rejoining the rotation. He's been better of late with four straight quality starts, and a 2.18 ERA in his last three outings.

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Left-hander Wade Miley faces Gio Gonzalez in Thursday's series finale. Miley is another former All-Star having his worst season, going 7-9 with a 4.46 ERA in 26 starts. The 27-year-old has performed well since allowing a career-worst 10 runs in 4 2/3 innings on Aug. 5 against the Royals. He has allowed four runs with 17 strikeouts in 13 innings (2.77 ERA) over his last two starts. On the surface, this series might look like an easy opportunity for the Nationals to extend their NL East lead. But even though the D-backs have struggled all month, all four starters they throw at the Nats have been doing well of late. And the offense has some hot bats to boot. So it might not be as much of a mismatch as it seems.

Williams meets with the media after Nats' third straight walk-off win By Dan Kolko / MASN Sports http://www.masnsports.com/nationals-pastime/2014/08/williams-meets-with-the-media-after-nats-third-straight-walk-off-win.html Three games, three walk-offs. They're going to run out of Gatorade at Nationals Park. Too much of it is getting dumped on the walk-off heroes. Adam LaRoche played the role of the hero tonight, crushing a 3-1 curveball from Will Harris deep to right for his first career walk-off homer, sending the Nats players and coaches spilling onto the field for the third straight night to celebrate another wild victory, this one by a 5-4 score. The Nats scored two runs in the seventh on Wilson Ramos' two-run homer to take a 2-1 lead. Then Jordan Zimmermann served up a two-run shot to Didi Gregorius to make it 3-2 D'backs in the top of the eighth. Anthony Rendon's RBI triple and Jayson Werth's sac fly then made it 4-3 Nats in the bottom of the eighth, but Tyler Clippard blew the save, surrendering a long homer to David Peralta, tying the game. The roller-coaster of emotions continued in the top of the 11th, when Craig Stammen loaded the bases with no outs, only to then put on his magician's hat and work out of the jam. That set the stage for LaRoche, who walked 'em off. Here's manager Matt Williams after the game: On if he's seen something like this before in all his years around the game: "No. Well, actually, I was part of one with the Diamondbacks as a player. Three walk-off homers in three games. They don't come around very often. But they just keep fightin', man. They just keep fightin'. Which is a great trait to have." On if these wins give the Nats increased confidence down the stretch: "I don't think that it has anything to do with confidence. I think everyone is confident. Just ... Stammen got in a situation and made quality pitches. Got ahead of the guys, was able to sink

the ball and get foul balls and then got a couple of strikeouts with the slider late. And then of course, Adam has never done that before. In all the home runs he's hit, he's never done that before. So that's a first for him. Unconventional by every stretch of the imagination. But it's a fantastic trait to have that they never give up." On Zimmermann's outing: "Pitched really well. Pitch count's reasonable, he just made a pitch to Didi. At that point, there's no need to push him any further than that. We were hoping he'd be able to get through that inning with our bullpen situation the way that it is, we wanted to stretch him through that inning given his pitch count. Unfortunately didn't happen for him. But he pitched well." On if he considers pulling Zimmermann after seven innings if Rafael Soriano was available: "Yeah, potentially. Sori's five of six. We had to use Clip, he's now six of seven. But that situation suits Clip with the lefties coming up. He just hung a split. Given all the games we've been playing like this, it taxes your bullpen. So we wanted to stay away from Sori tonight, if at all possible." On the roller-coaster ride the last few days: "It's just part of the game. It happens sometimes. You never want it, by any means. You never want that. But if you're given the situation and it's presented to you, you have one choice: you can give up, or you can fight. And these guys fight, which is great." On the tight games: "It doesn't help your bullpen, for sure. We want to make sure we're mindful of everybody's health and their load, but we get in a situation where we can win a game, we've got to try and do that, too. It's not easy, but it is baseball. That's why it's such a wonderful game. We've got to play it until the end, until the last out's made." On if he's still willing to do his Babe Ruth impersonation if the Nats win 10 straight: "Well I didn't necessarily want to bring that up, but it is. Yes, it is. It's still available." On if he's started studying tape of the Babe yet: "Not yet. Again, we don't look too far ahead. We've got to look to tomorrow."

And That Happened: Monday’s scores and highlights By Craig Calcaterra / NBC Sports http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/08/19/and-that-happened-mondays-scores-and-highlights-124/ Nationals 5, Diamondbacks 4: That Nationals have won seven in a row, with the last three being of the walkoff variety. This time courtesy of Adam LaRoche‘s homer in the 11th inning. Leading up to it was a lot of fun: Wilson Ramos put the Nationals in front in the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-run homer and the Dbacks went back into the lead when Didi Gregorius did the same in the top of the eighth. The Nats came back in the ninth only to see Tyler Clippard blow the save in the ninth. In the Arizona half of the 11th they loaded the bases with no one out and then didn’t score, which is about the most annoying thing on the planet. If anything the LaRoche homer put them out of their misery. Cubs 4, Mets 1: Kyle Hendricks and two relievers combined to allow one run on four hits and got all the support they’d need

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thanks to homers from Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez. The three of them will, hopefully for Cubs fans, represent a winning combination for years and years. Angels 4, Red Sox 2: Mike Trout and Albert Pujols hit RBI doubles. The Sox threatened in the ninth against fill-in closer Kevin Jepsen, but Jepsen worked around trouble, allowing only one run to score. Orioles 8, White Sox 2: An uncharacteristically poor outing for Chris Sale, who needed 121 pitches just to make it through six. The O’s took advantage, led by Nick Markakis who was 3 for 5 with a homer. He also had a pretty darn swell catch. Editor’s Note: Hardball Talk’s partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $125,000 Fantasy Baseball league for Tuesday night’s MLB games. It’s $25 to join and first prize is $15,000. Starts at 7:05pm ET on Tuesday. Here’s the FanDuel link. Phillies 4, Mariners 1: Jerome Williams allowed one run and three hits while pitching into the eighth. Andres Blanco had a three-run homer. Before coming up at the end of June, Blanco had not played in the majors since 2011. Royals 6, Twins 4: Erik Kratz came in to replace Sal Perez in the seventh and homered twice. That’s kinda how it’s been going for the Royals. Jason Vargas allowed one run on four hits in seven innings. Braves 7, Pirates 3: Six runs in the first — kicked off by back-to-back homers from Jason Heyward and Andrelton Simmons to lead things off — pretty much ended this one before it started. Six in a row dropped by the Pirates. Whose season looks like it could be ending before it’s even technically finished. Cardinals 6, Reds 5: Jhonny Peralta hit a walkoff single in the tenth. This after Trevor Rosenthal blew the save in the ninth. Jay Bruce homered, doubled and drove in four in a winning effort in a losing effort.

Kirk Gibson: Report: D'Backs planning to bring back Gibson Rotoworld http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=MLB&id=7407&line=444575&spln=1 Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the Diamondbacks are planning to bring manager Kirk Gibson back for 2015. It doesn't sound like a sure thing yet, as chief baseball officer Tony La Russa is delaying an official announcement. There's been plenty of speculation that he could prefer to bring in his own guys. The Diamondbacks have regressed since winning the National League West in 2011 (Gibson's first full season at the helm) and currently own a 53-72 record this season. Aug. 19 - 10:39 am et Source: Bob Nightengale on Twitter

Nats Continue Winning Streak By Shannel Douglas / WBOC http://www.wboc.com/story/26315571/nats-continue-winning-streak

Washington D.C., Md.- The Washington Nationals continuing their winning streak and remain on top of the National League East. Last season, the Nats dealt with their fair share of troubles struggling throughout the season. This year, its been a new beginning for the team as they were able to get their seventh straight win and third straight walk off win Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The man that sealed the deal for the Nats, Adam LaRoche as he hit a solo homer in the 11th inning to help Washington win 5-4. With the win the Nationals now have a six-game lead in the National League and are almost guaranteed to make a postseason run. The Nats return to action Tuesday night.

Adam LaRoche Hits First Career Walk-Off Home Run as Nationals Keep Winning By Adam Vingan / NBC Washington http://www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/capital-games/Adam-LaRoche-Hits-First-Career-Walk-Off-Home-Run-As-Nationals-Keep-Winning-271835581.html The Nationals extended their winning streak to a season-high seven games Monday with a 5-4 victory against the Diamondbacks, their third walk-off win in a row after Adam LaRoche hit a game-winning home run in the 11th inning. Washington's third straight walk-off win tied a franchise record set by the Expos on July 26-28, 1988. The Nationals also became just the second team in the majors to accomplish that feat this season, joining the Rays, who did so May 22-24. Even more impressive than that is the fact that LaRoche's home run Monday was the first-ever walk-off home run of his career. (VIDEO EMBEDDED) He entered the game with 235 career regular-season home runs, the second-most among players who never hit a walk-off homer. Only Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira has more with 361 career home runs. "[It's] nice to get my first one -- it took me long enough," the 34-year-old told reporters. "I got every bit of it, I did. Just a crazy few days. I don't know how we've gotten these walk-off situations the last few days, but we have and have been able to grind back." LaRoche is hitting .306 with six home runs and 12 RBIs in August.

D-backs Stung In Extras Again, Nationals Win 5-4 On Walk Off Homer By Josh Garcia / Vavel http://www.vavel.com/en-us/mlb/381583-d-backs-stung-in-extras-again-nationals-win-5-4-on-walk-off-homer.html The Arizona Diamondbacks were not only beaten by a former third base coach in Matt Williams, former player Adam LaRoche hit the game winning solo home run to give the Washington Nationals the 5-4 win. The win was the Nationals seventh in a

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row and their third straight walk off win. The walk off loss is the third in less than a week for the D-backs. The Diamonbacks squandered another stellar outing from Vidal Nuno, as he pitched seven innings while allowing just two earned runs on five hits, two walks and seven strikeouts. Both of the runs Nuno gave up came in the seventh inning, where Wilson Ramos hit a two run home run. Jordan Zimmerman was very good for the Nationals as well, also throwing seven innings while allowing three runs on four hits and three walks. Didi Gregorious ruined Zimmerman's chances of earning a win with his own two run homer in the eighth. Washington did the same exact thing to Vidal Nuno in the bottom half, scoring two runs off Brad Ziegler. Anthony Rendon hit a RBI triple, all to be brought home on Jayson Werth's sacrifice fly. David Peralta answered for the D-backs in the top of the ninth with his solo homer off Tyler Clippard. The D-backs will seek redemption on Tuesday in game two of the four game series, sending the red hot Chase Anderson to the mound to take on Stephen Strasburg.

Nationals overcome Diamondbacks, extend streak to seven with 5-4 win By Chelsea Janes / Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/nationals-overcome-diamondbacks-extend-streak-to-seven-with-5-4-win/2014/08/18/3ddfa448-2720-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html It was the top of the 11th inning when Craig Stammen loaded the bases with no one out. The Nationals’ magical win streak looked doomed. In a weekend of walk-off wins, they’d survived mistakes with clutch hits, overcome missed opportunities with quick comebacks and persevered through extra innings with adrenaline. The Nationals had done all three by the 11th on Monday’s game. But Stammen struck out one Arizona Diamondback, then another. Then a weak groundball to second base. Unbelievably in the context of the evening, but inevitably in the context of a magical week, Stammen escaped. In the bottom of the inning, the Nationals wrote their latest chapter of August magic. For the second straight day, it arrived in the 11th. For the third straight day, it came on a walk-off hit. This time, it was Adam LaRoche, who wasn’t looking for the 3-1 curveball he got from Will Harris, but crushed it all the same. His first career walk-off homer gave Washington a 5-4 win, its seventh straight. “I got every bit of that one,” LaRoche said. “Just a crazy few days. I don’t know how we’ve gotten into these walk-off situations the last few days, but we’ve been able to grind back.” Stammen and LaRoche joined a list that included Wilson Ramos on Saturday and Asdrubal Cabrera and Scott Hairston on Sunday, beneficiaries of whatever force has pushed the Nationals into their longest winning streak of the season, the heroes of the day in a run that’s seen many of them.

“It just feels like every break is going our way,” Stammen said. “You don’t get out of a bases loaded jam very often. That’s a once-in-25-time thing. Walk-off home runs with two outs in the 11th. Coming back when we were down, all that stuff. Giving up home runs, coming back and scoring more runs, it’s just resiliency.” Head-shaking base running, failed bunts, and a leadoff walk turned into a run gave a half-full Nationals Park the impression that Monday night might mark the end of the magical run. Jordan Zimmermann walked three men for the first time all year, and two of them came around to score. “That’s why we preach ‘don’t walk anyone,’ ” Zimmermann said. “Two of my walks scored. We could’ve been home a lot earlier.” Tyler Clippard allowed a run for the first time since July 12. Denard Span and Bryce Harper both ran into outs, and Zimmermann failed to advance a runner on a bunt. Still, Washington found itself down only one in the seventh, when Ian Desmond walked and Ramos sent a low line drive over the 402 sign in dead center for a 2-1 lead. The late-inning magic was revived; the Nationals appeared to have found a way again. But then Didi Gregorius, who’d stifled Washington rallies with tremendous plays at shortstop, in the hole and charging in and all over, smacked a two-run homer of his own in the eighth. He’d confused the momentum, though only momentarily. Anthony Rendon tripled home Span in the bottom of the inning, a line drive that touched down just inside the right field line. Jayson Werth then scored him with a sacrifice fly. Clippard came in with a 4-3 lead in the ninth, as struggling closer Rafael Soriano got the night off. He’d been nearly untouchable for about a month, allowing just four hits in his previous 14 outings. And then he surrendered a tying home run to David Peralta. Then Stammen got into and out of trouble. Two blown saves in two nights for the Nationals, and two wins. “It doesn’t help your bullpen, for sure,” Manager Matt Williams said of playing extra-inning games. “We want to make sure we’re mindful of everybody’s health and their load, but we get in a situation where we can win a game, we’ve got to try and do that, too.” The fatigue of a week’s worth of late-inning excitement showed in Clippard’s uncharacteristic fraying. The power of a baseball team on an unrelenting hot streak patched it up. “It’s nothing a pitcher ever wants to get into,” LaRoche said of Stammen’s 11th-inning escape. “But for him to grind back right there, that could’ve easily been a disastrous inning with the bases loaded and nobody out. To fight back and make those pitches to get us back into the dugout, it was big for us.” By the time LaRoche whacked the ball off the facade in right field, that immeasurable baseball force — fate, momentum, luck, whatever — was back in the Nationals dugout. Stammen was a

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winner, LaRoche was a hero, and the Nationals had done it again.

Nationals get third straight walk-off win, extend winning streak to seven games By Mike Oz / Big League Stew https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/nationals-get-a-walk-off-win-for-third-straight-day--extend-winning-streak-to-seven-074833867.html It seems like the Washington Nationals have been playing with magic wands the past few days. The Nats won their third straight game via a walk-off hit Monday night and their seventh consecutive game overall. Adam LaRoche blasted an 11th inning home run — a no-doubt type of homer — to give the Nats a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. After the game, LaRoche told reporters, including Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post: “I got every bit of that one,” LaRoche said. “Just a crazy few days. I don’t know how we’ve gotten into these walk-off situations the last few days, but we’ve been able to grind back.” LaRoche's homer was the most dramatic of the walk-off trifecta, but the other two were just as effective. The Nats won on an 11th-inning sac fly on Sunday and a ninth-inning ground-rule double Saturday. Both of those came against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Their seven-game winning streak has pushed the Nats' lead in the NL East to six games over the second-place Atlanta Braves, the biggest division lead in the NL at the moment. Wondering how the three straight walk-offs size up historically? MLB.com's Jamie Ross has the factoids: The Nationals are the second team to string together three in a row this season. The Rays accomplished the feat in late May with a win over the A's and a pair over the Red Sox. The Phillies and Rangers both did it 2013. The 1986 Astros hold the record for consecutive walk-off wins with five. Do the Nationals' magic wands have two more nights of walk-off drama in them? We'll find out Tuesday. But after two straight extra-inning wins and three straight nail-biters, the Nats would probably be just fine winning a game that's decided by a comfortable margin.

RENO ACES

Assisted home run costs Aces in extra innings By Chad Seely / Reno Aces http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140818&content_id=90345132&fext=.jsp&vkey=recap&sid=t2310 NEW ORLEANS - Brian Bogusevic's lead-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning gave the New Orleans Zephyrs a walk-off, 3-2 win over the Reno Aces Monday night in New Orleans.

However, it was the way the play unraveled that cost Reno the game. Aces' reliever Kevin Munson delivered a 1-1 pitch that Bogusevic hit to deep left-field and off the glove of left-fielder Zach Borenstein. The ball caromed all the way over the wall for a game-winning solo home run. It was Borenstein who gave the Aces a chance earlier in the game. One night after Mike Jacobs broke up a no-hit bid by New Orleans left-hander Andrew Heaney in the eighth inning, two Zephyrs pitchers held the Aces without a hit through seven frames. Trailing 2-0 in the eighth, right-fielder Brett Jackson broke up the no-hitter with an infield single with one out. On the very next pitch, Borenstein launched a two-run homer off Chaz Roe to even the game at 2-2. Exactly two years ago to the day, Aces' outfielder Adam Eaton broke up a no-hit bid by the Tacoma Rainiers with two out in the bottom of the eighth inning in a 2-0 Reno loss. Reno's offense stalled after Borenstein's home run, getting one base runner the rest of the way, a two-out walk to Mike Freeman in the top of the 11th. It paved the way for Bogusevic's game-winning shot, his fifth home run of the season. Munson was tagged with the loss, his third of the year as the Aces dropped to 70-60. Playing with the best road record in the Pacific Coast League, the Aces have dropped back-to-back road games for the first time since July 11 and 12 in Sacramento. The two teams meet Tuesday night in the series finale as the Aces try to salvage a series split. Left-hander Andrew Chafin (4-5, 5.40) starts for Reno against left-hander Brian Flynn (7-9, 4.12). First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 PST. Single-game tickets are on sale for the final eight home games of the 2014 season. For more information, or to purchase an Aces ticket plan, call (775) 334-4700. For up-to-date news and notes throughout the offseason, visit http://www.renoaces.com, follow the club on Twitter (@aces) or like the team on Facebook.

MOBILE BAYBEARS

BayBears Drury & Simmons Sweep Weekly Awards By MiLB.com / Mobile BayBears http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140818&content_id=90276960&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t417&sid=t417 \ MOBILE, AL - The Mobile BayBears and the Southern League have announced that infielder Brandon Drury and RHP Seth Simmons have been named the Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week respectively for the period of August 11-17. Drury, 21, batted .500, with 12 hits in 24 at-bats while clubbing two home runs and tallying 5 RBI during the week. Drury aided Mobile with three wins over Pensacola while pacing the first-place BayBears with three hits in four at bats in an 8-3 win over the Blue Wahoos Wednesday night.

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A native of Grants Pass, OR, Drury began 2014 with the High-A Visalia Rawhide of the California League. Rated as the number six overall prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks farm system by MLB.com, Drury batted .300 (129-for-430) with 19 home runs and 81 RBI with the Rawhide. Since being promoted to Double-A Mobile on August 1, Drury has hit safely in 13 of his first 15 games, batting .352 with 4 homers and 9 RBI. Simmons, 26, tossed five scoreless innings of relief in three appearances out of the bullpen during the week. The righty allowed just three hits while striking out 12 of the 18 batters he faced, anchoring the BayBears bullpen in three wins against Pensacola. On August 16, with the BayBears leading 3-0, Simmons entered the game with the bases loaded, no outs and struck-out the side on just nine pitches, preserving the Mobile win. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina native began the 2014 campaign with High-A Visalia, posting a 2-2 record with a 6.08 ERA in 13 games before being promoted to Double-A Mobile. Since joining the BayBears, Simmons has thrown 41.2 innings, allowing just seven earned runs, while walking 14 and striking out a bullpen-high, 53 batters. The BayBears continue their five game against the Mississippi Braves with game two set for Monday night at 7:05 PM from Hank Aaron Stadium. Tickets to all BayBears' 2014 home games are available for sale now by calling the BayBears ticket office at (251) 479-BEAR (2327), Monday through Friday, 9-5 PM. For more information on the BayBears, or for more information on any upcoming games and promotions, visit the official team web site at MobileBayBears.com or by "Liking" the Mobile BayBears on Facebook and following the team on Twitter @Mobile_BayBears.

VISALIA RAWHIDE

Rawhide Gut Out 11-Inning Comeback Win Visalia Rawhide http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140819&content_id=90362072&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t516&sid=t516 MODESTO--With his team down to their last out, and on the verge of losing a crucial series to the league's worst team, Breland Almadova delivered. His 2-out, 2-run single in the top of the 9th tied the game and gave Visalia new life, allowing them to eventually outlast Modesto 5-3 in 11 innings on Monday night. Modesto scored first, plating a 2-out run against local boy Spencer Arroyo. But the Rawhide tied it in the 2nd, with Socrates Brito reaching on an infield hit and scoring on a wild pitch. It stayed 1-1 until the bottom of the 6th, when Modesto struck for 2, on 3 singles, a walk, and a double play. They missed a chance to pull away, however, leaving Visalia within striking ranch. And strike they did, even though they waited until the last possible moment. After going just 1 for 13 with runners in

scoring position, the Rawhide loaded the bases in the 9th inning on a 1-out single by George Roberts, walk to Brandon Jacobs, and single by Ryan Gebhardt. After a strikeout, it was all up to Breland Almadova. Hitless to that point, Almadova delivered, grounding one up the middle and plating 2 runs to tie it at 3. The Rawhide left two go-ahead runs in that inning, then hit into a double play with the bases loaded in the 10th...but Modesto also left them loaded in the bottom half. Then, in the 11th, the Rawhide took their first lead of the night...and the only one they would need. Ryan Gebhard sliced a triple down the right field line, and with one out, Almadova came through again, grounding another ball into center field and making it 4-3 Visalia. After a single by Alex Glenn, Raul Navarro hit a scoring sacrifice fly, making it 5-3. That was more than enough cushion for Enrique Burgos; after allowing a leadoff double, Burgos, recorded the next 3 outs without incident, striking out the last 2 batters to end the game. He remained perfect in save opportunities (27 for 27) on the season. The win moved the 'Hide back into a tie with San Jose for the Wild Card lead. There are 13 games remaining in the regular season. Join the Rawhide at home tomorrow, as they return for a 3-game set against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (LA Dodgers)! First pitch will be at 7:00.

SOUTH BEND SILVER HAWKS

Williams Works Wonders, Wins Wild One for Hawks 11-6 South Bend Silver Hawks http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140818&content_id=90327768&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t550&sid=t550 Williams Works Wonders, Wins Wild One for Hawks 11-6 The South Bend Silver Hawks (32-24, 72-53) won a wild one on Monday night at Four Winds Field as they plated four in the first, gave up five in the second, but came back to take an 11-6 win over the Dayton Dragons (27-29, 63-61). Right fielder Justin Williams homered, drove in four runs and scored three, including what turned out to be the deciding run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Second baseman Jamie Westbrook chipped in with three RBIs of his own. South Bend, the Class-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as they jumped out to a lead in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, the Hawks loaded the bases on two walks sandwiched around a Fidel Pena single. Williams then singled through the left side to plate left fielder Chuck Taylor from third and Pena from second for a 2-0 lead. Westbrook followed with a two-run triple to left-center that scored third baseman Joe Munoz from third and Williams from first for a 4-0 lead. The Hawks did not hold the lead for long as Dayton, the Class-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, struck back with five runs in the top of the second to take the lead. Center fielder Phillip

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Ervin led off with a double to center. Catcher Jose Ortiz drove in the first Dragons run of the game with a double to left that plated Ervin. With one out, third baseman Tanner Rahier doubled to center to cut the lead to 4-2. He then scored on a single up the middle by designated hitter Avain Rachal that made it a 4-3 game. Right fielder Jonathan Reynoso followed with a double to deep-center that tied the game at 4-4. With two outs, Hawks starter Ryan Doran (W, 2-0) could not get out of the inning as he gave up a triple to shortstop Alex Blandino that scored Reynoso for a 5-4 Dragons lead. Dragons starter Amir Garrett (L, 7-7) could not hold the lead as he gave it back to the Hawks in the bottom of the third. Munoz led off the inning with a walk and Williams also walked to put runners at first and second with no outs. Westbrook grounded a single to left to load the bases with nobody out and knocked Garrett out of the game. Joel Bender entered to replace him and quickly struck out the first two batters he faced to give the Dragons a chance to get out of the inning with the lead. Bender was unable to complete the escape act however as he hit designated hitter D.J. Bowman on the foot with a curveball to force home Munoz and tie the game at 5-5. He then uncorked a fastball to shortstop Andrew Velazquez that sailed way over the catcher's head and straight to the backstop, allowing Williams to score from third for a 6-5 South Bend lead. The Hawks added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Williams tripled deep over the center fielder's head. Westbrook came to the plate and gave the Hawks a 7-5 lead with a grounder that the shortstop was able to dive and knock down but Westbrook easily beat out the throw for an RBI infield single. Dayton pulled back to within a run in the top of the fifth inning. First baseman Robert Ramirez led off with a double to left. Ervin then laced his second double of the night, this one to the gap in right-center. Ramirez scored to make it 7-6 but Ervin was gunned down trying to stretch it into a triple as Pena threw to Westbrook who made a perfect relay throw to third to nail Ervin. Both bullpens settled down after the fifth and kept the opposing offenses off the scoreboard until the eighth inning. Bender threw a strong five innings for the Dragons, allowing just one run and striking out nine Hawks. Alex Byo relieved Doran in the top of the sixth and threw two shutout innings to keep the Hawks in the lead. Bud Jeter then follow suit in the eighth as he kept the Dragons off the score board for a 7-6 Hawks lead. South Bend added some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Pedro Diaz came in to relieve Bender and surrendered a leadoff bunt single to Velazquez. Taylor walked to put runners at first and second and Pena bunted the runners over to second and third with one out. Munoz hit a drive to deep right that was flagged down by the Dragons' outfielder but was deep enough to let Velazquez jog home and stretch the South Bend lead to 8-6. Williams was up next and he laced a 3-1 fastball the opposite way and over the left-field fence for a two-run homer and a 10-6 Hawks lead. Westbrook worked a walk and first baseman Marty Herum singled to put runners at first and second. Catcher BJ Lopez lined a single to center that scored Westbrook and made it 11-6. Jose Jose entered the game

in the top of the ninth and closed it out for the Hawks with a perfect inning. The Hawks and Dragons meet up again on Tuesday night at Four Winds Field with first pitch scheduled for 7:05pm. Sal Romano (7-10, 4.13 ERA) gets the start for Dayton while Anthony Banda (8-6, 3.30 ERA) gets the ball for South Bend. It is Triple Play Tuesday at Four Winds Field where you can get a game ticket, hot dog, and a drink for just $10 with a coupon from the South Bend Tribune.

Williams ignites Silver Hawks By Staff / South Bend Tribune http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/professional/silverhawks/williams-ignites-silver-hawks/article_60cc91c8-2784-11e4-8caf-001a4bcf6878.html SOUTH BEND — Justin Williams went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and four runs scored and Jamie Westbrook had a 2-run triple in a four-run first inning to pace South Bend to an 11-6 win over the Dayton Dragons Monday night. Andrew Velazquez added three hits for South Bend. Ryan Doran (2-0) picked up the win for the Hawk despite getting knocked for six runs over five innings of work. Alex Byo, Bud Jeter, and Jose Jose combined for four scoreless innings of relief in the win.

HILLSBORO HOPS

Hops Sweep Eugene, Stand Alone Atop NWL Balanced effort leads to much-needed comfortable win By Rich Burk / HIllsboro Hops http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140819&content_id=90367282&fext=.jsp&vkey=recap&sid=t419 EUGENE, ORE. --- A night after their 17-inning win in Eugene, the Hops put together a solid all-around effort on Monday night in a 9-2 win at PK Park. The game, which took just 2:30 to play (in contrast to Sunday's five-hour, 28-minute affair), completed a three-game sweep. Hillsboro is 16-9 in the second half and 38-25 overall, both best in the Northwest League. Neither team had a hit until Eugene right fielder Nick Torres singled off Hops starter Jared Miller with two outs in the fourth. Trae Santos followed with an RBI single, and the Emeralds had a 1-0 lead. Hillsboro, which had just one base runner in the first four innings, turned things around in the fifth against Eugene starter Michael Kelly. Jordan Parr singled, and Elvin Soto laid down a bunt for a base hit, with Parr advancing to an uncovered third base. Nate Robertson singled home a run to tie the game 1-1, and Pedro Ruiz hit a ground ball that Eugene butchered for two errors on one play and a 2-1 Hops lead. Galli Cribbs Jr. then singled home two, and after Taylor Ratliff singled and Steve Nyisztor was hit by a pitch, Stryker Trahan singled home a run. Kevin Cron's sacrifice fly capped the six-run inning. Hillsboro added a run in the sixth on a gift fly ball double by Soto and a single by Robertson to make it 7-1.

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Eugene's Jalen Goree homered in the sixth to make it 7-2, one of the few blemishes in a strong effort for Miller. The left-hander from Vanderbilt earned his first professional win, allowing two runs on three hits in 5.2 innings, with one walk and eight strikeouts. The Hops tacked on two in the eighth. Cron singled, extending his hitting streak to eight games. Parr bounced into a force play, then scored on a double by Soto into the right field corner, Soto's third hit of the night. Soto later scored on another hit by Cribbs to make it 9-2. The offensive outburst was a welcome sight to Hops pitching coach Doug Drabek, who had only three relievers available. Rob Wort came on to get the last out of the sixth, then worked a scoreless seventh. Cody Geyer allowed a walk in the eighth, but got a double play ball to end the inning. Mason McCullough came on for the ninth. Using his slider more than he has in previous outings, he retired side in order, striking out Santos on a 98-mph fastball to end the game. Eugene (11-14, 26-37) is five games out of first with 13 to play, in fourth place in the South Division. Second-place Salem-Keizer salvaged the finale of a series at home against Boise, 7-3, to remain one game out. Boise is in third, four games out. Hops pitching --- which has a league-best 3.86 ERA --- continues to shine. Hillsboro's bullpen worked 23.2 innings in the series, allowing 18 hits and just four runs, with five walks and 26 strikeouts. The Hops play their next 10 games outside the division --- five at home against Spokane, then five at Tri-City. Hillsboro has Tuesday off. The series against Spokane at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro begins Wednesday night at 7:05 PM. The pregame show airs at 6:35 on Rip City Radio 620 AM and www.foxsportsradio620.com. NOTE: Hops shortstop Pedro Ruiz set a Northwest League record by notching 14 assists (plus two putouts, with no errors) in Sunday's 17-inning win in Eugene. The previous record for assists had been 12, set by shortstop Dwayne Lewis of Spokane in 1995. The league is in its 60th season. Ruiz had just one assist through the first six innings, then recorded 13 in the final 11 frames.

MISSOULA OSPREY

Hernandez sparkles in Osprey's win over Chukars Missoulian http://missoulian.com/sports/osprey/hernandez-sparkles-in-osprey-s-win-over-chukars/article_3af865ca-2758-11e4-a67a-0019bb2963f4.html Carlos Hernandez held Idaho Falls hitless into the fifth inning and the Missoula Osprey scored a 5-1 win over the Chukars in a Pioneer League baseball game Monday night at Ogren-Allegiance Park.

Hernandez (4-4) retired the first 11 batters he faced before Chukars first baseman Ryan O’Hearn drew a two-out walk in the fourth. Idaho Falls didn’t reach Hernandez for a hit until there were two gone in the fifth. Mike Hill grounded a single up the middle to break up the no-hitter. Hernandez lasted 6 2-3 innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out five. He did not give up a run. Jency Solis took over and threw 1 1-3 innings of hitless relief. Brody Greer came on to pitch the ninth and allowed Corey Toups’ solo homer to break up the shutout. Trevor Mitsui had an RBI single in the first for what looked like it would be the only run the Birds would need. Missoula, though, padded its lead to 5-0 with a four-run seventh inning. The big blow was a three-run homer by Fernery Ozuna, his seventh of the season. Bennie Robinson had reached on an error to start the inning and Damion Smith was aboard with a one-out walk before Sergio Alcantara brought home Robinson with a single. Ozuna then unloaded to center field. Idaho Falls starter Zach Lovvorn (2-4) was sharp as well, allowing just the first-inning run in 5 2-3 innings on the hill. Mariel Checo was tagged for the four-run seventh. Missoula improved to 11-11 in the second half of the season, 28-32 overall, and trails first-place Billings by two games in the North Division. Idaho Falls fell to 11-10 in the second half, 31-28 overall. The Osprey will take Tuesday off beforeb beginning a six-game road trip Wednesday at Billings.

NATIONAL

MLB NEWS August 19, 2014 • sports.yahoo.com/mlb/morenews http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/morenews August 19, 2014

Jeff Samardzija content he chose baseball over football 11:19 am EDT (NBC Sports)

State of the Nationals' bullpen: Exhausted 11:17 am EDT (Comcast SportsNet Mid Atlantic)

The NL Wild card race: less-than-inspiring 11:02 am EDT (NBC Sports)

Mike Matheny on Michael Wacha’s bullpen session: “I was expecting less” 10:47 am EDT (NBC Sports)

Somebody get Ben Revere a Taney Dragons jersey 10:30 am EDT (Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia)

Aroldis Chapman unavailable due to “achy” shoulder 10:15 am EDT (NBC Sports)

Blue Jays-Brewers Preview 10:15 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Robinson Cano the latest victim of Ken Giles' slider 9:50 am EDT (Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia)

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Phillies fans reminded of the power of Chooch 9:47 am EDT (Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia)

Happy Eddie Gaedel Day! 9:46 am EDT (NBC Sports)

With Orioles, it's a matter of trust 9:37 am EDT (Comcast SportsNet Mid Atlantic)

Could bats with axe handles find their way to the big leagues soon? 9:16 am EDT (NBC Sports)

Always be prepared: Royals backup catcher hits two homers off the bench 8:54 am EDT (NBC Sports)

Losing coach in Little League World Series provides a winning postgame speech 8:20 am EDT (NBC Sports)

And That Happened: Monday’s scores and highlights 6:42 am EDT (NBC Sports)

Team Report - MILWAUKEE BREWERS 3:40 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - MIAMI MARLINS 3:40 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - NEW YORK METS 3:40 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - MINNESOTA TWINS 3:40 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - CINCINNATI REDS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - ST. LOUIS CARDINALS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - COLORADO ROCKIES 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - TAMPA BAY RAYS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - DETROIT TIGERS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - HOUSTON ASTROS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - OAKLAND ATHLETICS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - NEW YORK YANKEES 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - ATLANTA BRAVES 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - LOS ANGELES DODGERS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - TEXAS RANGERS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - SEATTLE MARINERS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - CHICAGO CUBS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - SAN DIEGO PADRES 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - PITTSBURGH PIRATES 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - KANSAS CITY ROYALS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - CLEVELAND INDIANS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Team Report - TORONTO BLUE JAYS 3:32 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Pirates anxiously await McCutchen's return Tuesday 2:12 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Orioles still pondering Gonzalez's return 1:51 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Reds-Cardinals Preview 1:46 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Orioles-White Sox Preview 1:35 am EDT (The Associated Press)

White Sox's Dunn ponders retirement 1:31 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Orioles get injunction in dispute with Nationals 1:28 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Diamondbacks-Nationals Preview 1:26 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Daily Dose: McCutchen Returns 1:18 am EDT (Rotoworld)

Orioles hit 3 homers in 8-2 win over White Sox 1:09 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Indians-Twins Preview 1:08 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Royals-Rockies Preview 12:57 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Peralta's RBI in 10th gives Cardinals a win 12:51 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Kratz belts two homers to lead Royals past Twins 12:44 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Norris outduels Sale as Orioles defeat White Sox 12:36 am EDT (The SportsXchange)

Cardinals beat Reds 6-5 in 10 innings 12:33 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Angels-Red Sox Preview 12:32 am EDT (The Associated Press)

LaRoche finally gets to savor first walk-off homer 12:25 am EDT (Comcast SportsNet Mid Atlantic)

Kratz, Vargas lead Royals over Twins 6-4 12:21 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Hot Hitter Rundown 12:09 am EDT (Rotoworld)

Angels beat Red Sox 4-2 to extend AL West lead 12:03 am EDT (The Associated Press)

Braves-Pirates Preview 12:00 am EDT (The Associated Press)

August 18, 2014

Hendricks, Baez help Cubs beat Mets 4-1 11:58 pm EDT (The Associated Press)

Angels double up Red Sox, grab first place in West 11:57 pm EDT (The SportsXchange)

LaRoche homer lifts Nats over DBacks 5-4 in 11 11:57 pm EDT (The Associated Press)

Nationals win on LaRoche homer in 11th 11:56 pm EDT (The SportsXchange)

Game roundup: Angels move into first with win over Red Sox 11:56 pm EDT (The SportsXchange)

Mariners-Phillies Preview 11:56 pm EDT (The Associated Press)

Williams puts trust in Ruiz to throw gem for Phils 11:54 pm EDT (Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia)

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Braves 7, Pirates 3 11:50 pm EDT (The SportsXchange)

Williams, Blanco push Phillies past Mariners 4-1 11:49 pm EDT (The Associated Press)

Watch Nick Markakis rob Conor Gillaspie with leaping catch 11:34 pm EDT (NBC Sports)

Braves use 6-run 1st to beat Pirates 7-3 11:23 pm EDT (The Associated Press)

Williams, Blanco carry Phillies to win over Mariners 11:20 pm EDT (The SportsXchange)

White Sox bullpen self-destructs again in loss to Orioles 11:16 pm EDT (Comcast SportsNet Chicago)

Markakis' catch helps Norris win 11th in 8-2 victory 11:12 pm EDT (Comcast SportsNet Mid Atlantic)

VIDEO: Adam LaRoche homers to give Nationals third straight walk-off victory 11:01 pm EDT (NBC Sports)

Nats beat Diamondbacks in third straight walk-off win 10:30 pm EDT (Comcast SportsNet Mid Atlantic)

Felix Hernandez says he’s good to go after hip bruise 10:02 pm EDT (NBC Sports)

Jays claim 1B Hague off waivers from Pirates 9:45 pm EDT (The SportsXchange)

Instant Replay: Phillies 4, Mariners 1 9:17 pm EDT (Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia)

Numbers game: Tigers fall victim to baseball’s speed obsession 9:09 pm EDT (NBC Sports)

MLB TRANSACTIONS August 19, 2014 • MLB.com http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions

LAST UPDATED: TUE, AUGUST 19, 2014, 09:17 EDT

MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2014

TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION

Arizona Diamondbacks

Bradin Hagens

Sent to Minors

Arizona Diamondbacks

Will Harris Called Up from Minors

Boston Red Sox

Mookie Betts

Called Up from Minors

Boston Red Sox

Jackie Bradley Jr.

Sent to Minors

Boston Red Sox Allen Craig

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

Cincinnati Reds

Dylan Axelrod

Sent to Minors

Cincinnati Reds

Tucker Barnhart

Sent to Minors

Cincinnati Reds Brandon Removed From 15-Day DL,

Phillips (Left thumb surgery - out 6-8 weeks)

Cincinnati Reds

Brandon Phillips

Recalled From Minors, Rehab Assignment

Cincinnati Reds

Logan Ondrusek

Removed From 15-Day DL, (Strained right shoulder)

Cincinnati Reds

Logan Ondrusek

Recalled From Minors, Rehab Assignment

Los Angeles Dodgers

Chris Perez

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

Oakland Athletics

Craig Gentry

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

San Diego Padres

Troy Patton

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

San Diego Padres

Robbie Erlin

Removed From 60-Day DL, (Left elbow soreness)

San Diego Padres

Robbie Erlin Sent to Minors

San Diego Padres

Robbie Erlin

Recalled From Minors, Rehab Assignment

Seattle Mariners Roenis Elias Called Up from Minors

Texas Rangers Carlos Pena Released

Toronto Blue Jays

Matt Hague

Acquired Off Waivers From from Pirates, Pittsburgh

Toronto Blue Jays

Matt Hague Sent to Minors

Washington Nationals

Nate Schierholtz

Signed to a Minor League Contract

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014

TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION

Arizona Diamondbacks

Chris Owings

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

Boston Red Sox

Steven Wright

Called Up from Minors

Boston Red Sox

Corey Brown

Designated for Assignment

Chicago Cubs Matt Szczur Called Up from Minors

Cincinnati Reds

Curtis Partch

Called Up from Minors, (recalled as 26th roster player)

Cincinnati Reds

Curtis Partch

Return of 26th man

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Cleveland Indians

Danny Salazar

Called Up from Minors

Colorado Rockies

Ben Paulsen Return of 26th man

Colorado Rockies

Ben Paulsen

Called Up from Minors, (recalled as 26th roster player)

Detroit Tigers Jim Johnson Purchased From Minors

Detroit Tigers

Kevin Whelan

Designated for Assignment

Miami Marlins

Derek Dietrich

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

New York Yankees

Brian McCann

Removed from 7-Day DL, (Concussion)

New York Yankees

Austin Romine

Sent to Minors

Pittsburgh Pirates

Brent Morel Called Up from Minors

Pittsburgh Pirates

Charlie Morton

Placed on 15-Day DL, (Right hip inflammation)

Seattle Mariners James Jones Sent to Minors

St. Louis Cardinals

Carlos Martinez

Called Up from Minors

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2014

TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION

Arizona Diamondbacks

Blake Tekotte

Released

Atlanta Braves

Donnie Murphy

Signed to a Minor League Contract

Atlanta Braves

Shae Simmons

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

Chicago Cubs Dan Straily Called Up from Minors

Chicago Cubs Dan Straily Sent to Minors

Chicago White Sox

Eric Surkamp

Called Up from Minors

Chicago White Sox

Javy Guerra

Placed on Bereavement/Family Medical Emergency List

Chicago White Sox

Avisail Garcia

Removed From 60-Day DL, (Left shoulder surgery)

Chicago White Sox

Charlie Leesman

Designated for Assignment

Chicago White Sox

Avisail Garcia

Recalled From Minors, Rehab Assignment

Chicago White Sox

Moises Sierra

Placed on 15-Day DL, (Strained left oblique)

Cincinnati Reds

Homer Bailey

Placed on 15-Day DL, (Strained right flexor tendon)

Cincinnati Reds

Dylan Axelrod

Purchased From Minors

Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto

Transferred to 60-Day DL, (Strained left quadriceps)

Cleveland Indians

Tyler Holt Sent to Minors

Colorado Rockies

Tommy Kahnle

Placed on 15-Day DL, (Right shoulder inflammation)

Colorado Rockies

Michael Cuddyer

Removed From 60-Day DL, (Strained left shoulder)

Colorado Rockies

Michael Cuddyer

Recalled From Minors, Rehab Assignment

Colorado Rockies

Brooks Brown

Called Up from Minors

Colorado Rockies

Brett Anderson

Transferred to 60-Day DL, (Lower back surgery - out for season)

Colorado Rockies

Ben Paulsen Sent to Minors

Detroit Tigers

Melvin Mercedes

Sent to Minors

Detroit Tigers Andy Dirks

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

Los Angeles Angels

Mike Morin

Removed From 15-Day DL, (Left foot laceration)

Los Angeles Angels

Mike Morin

Recalled From Minors, Rehab Assignment

Los Angeles Angels

Vinnie Pestano

Sent to Minors

Los Angeles Dodgers

Juan Uribe

Placed on 15-Day DL, (Strained right hamstring)

Los Angeles Dodgers

Carlos Triunfel

Called Up from Minors

Miami Marlins

Henderson Alvarez

Removed From 15-Day DL, (Right shoulder inflammation)

Milwaukee Brewers

Billy Buckner

Signed to a Minor League Contract

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New York Yankees

Chris Leroux

Outrighted to Minors

St. Louis Cardinals

Kevin Siegrist

Sent to Minors

Tampa Bay Rays

David DeJesus

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

Tampa Bay Rays

Vince Belnome

Called Up from Minors

Texas Rangers Engel Beltre

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

Toronto Blue Jays

Dan Johnson

Sent to Minors, For Rehabilitation

Toronto Blue Jays

Kyle Drabek Called Up from Minors