Just over three weeks ago, the Marlins announced that Giancarlo Stanton would be out for at least six weeks, and most likely the rest of the Major League Baseball season, with a Grade 3 groin strain (a strain is classified as a Grade 3 if muscles are torn).
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Zimmermann gave up two home runs in a rehab start for Triple-A Toledo on Monday, throwing 80 pitches.
Stanton’s addition could boost the team’s outside chance of chasing down a playoff spot. He went on the disabled list the next day and was initially given a six-week timetable. He was sidelined with a grade 3 groin strain in mid-August and was presumed to be out for the remainder of the season, but the Marlins mysteriously returned him to the team today.
However, Stanton is not without his limitations. Mattingly said that if Stanton was to reach base, he would not require a pinch-runner.
Stanton is batting.244 with 25 homers and 70 RBIs in 103 games for the Marlins, who entered Tuesday’s contest five games in back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second National League wild card. He also made a running catch in right-center field when Jeff Francoeur was looking for extra bases in the second. “We feel like he will continue to get better and better”.
Tigers get Zimmermann back • Detroit righthander Jordan Zimmermann has been activated from the disabled list and is scheduled to start Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles.
Bour has been out since early July with a high ankle sprain. The Fish have not done anything particularly well in their most recent stretch of games, and it just has to be nice to see some good news for a change for a clubhouse that has really gelled together.
Like Stanton, Bour will be used as a pinch-hitter for now but could return to the lineup in a matter of days.
On the other hand, Stanton is clearly not “100 percent” healthy, or else the team would not be restricting his play to merely bench appearances. The Marlins originally thought the severity of the injury meant Stanton would need six weeks to recover.
Now the slumping Marlins will have him for the final 24 games. It could have turned into more, but Xavier Scruggs was thrown out at third base before Stanton’s single.
One might say this and question why the Marlins even got him involved.
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Miami came into the day having lost 22 of its last 33 games, and five games out of the second wild-card spot. The franchise’s top player, Stanton’s 2015 campaign was cut short when he suffered a season-ending hand injury after 74 games. Why take this kind of risk with live pitching? He stayed in the game until being pulled after the fifth due to hand soreness.
