Ezequiel Duran homers in defeat

The matchup is the same as in last night’s rained out game, so there’s no need to changeup the lineup of
Steven Kwan (LF), Jose Ramírez (3B), Chase DeLauter (RF), Jo Adell (DH), Nathaniel Lowe (1B), Travis Bazzana (2B), Patrick Bailey (C), Petey Halpin (CF) and Brayan Rocchio (SS).

Raquet, who was released by the Orioles last month, recently underwent Tommy John surgery and probably won’t pitch at all next season. The 30-year-old has a 4.76 ERA in six MLB relief appearances with the Cardinals and Orioles the last two seasons. He has a 5.00 ERA and a 130/50 K/BB in 129 2/3 career innings in Triple-A.

Fedko made his major league debut with the Twins in June, going 0-for-16 in 14 games before returning to Triple-A. He then suffered a torn ACL in August and was released in September, at which point the Pirates signed him. He’s aiming to resume playing in May. The 27-year-old was quite successful for the Twins’ Triple-A club the last two years, hitting .272/.358/.519 with 25 homers and 22 steals in 117 games.

Playing winter ball for the first time, the 19-year-old Made homered off Jeremy Rhoades in his first at-bat in Licey’s first game of the season. One of the game’s best prospects, Made hit .271/.344/.430 with 14 homers and 37 steals in Double-A this year. The Brewers moved him around some to second and third in his first two years in the system, but he was strictly a shortstop this season.

Bernal, whose impressive late-season audition should make him a strong candidate for the Cardinals’ 2027 roster, struck out in his other three at-bats. The homer was a 106-mph rocket that knocked Aaron Brooks out of the game in the fourth.

The Gigantes opened the season with Reds outfielders batting first and second; Jorge was in center field and Noelvi Marte went 1-for-3 with a steal as the team’s right fielder. One imagines the Reds will bring in at least one starting outfielder this winter, but that’d still leave plenty of room for JJ Bleday, Dane Myers, Héctor Rodríguez, Blake Dunn, Jorge and Marte to battle things out. That said, it’d be no surprise if Marte is moved.

We’d pretty much given up on ever hearing from Mondesi again, but he took the field in a game last night for the first time since Apr. 26, 2022, when he blew out his knee. The Red Sox acquired him from the Royals the following winter, thinking that he’d recover and compete to be their starting shortstop, but he couldn’t get over the hump and was released after the 2023 season. He’d been rarely discussed since. Mondesi is 31 now and a return to the majors is probably a long shot, but maybe he’ll get a minor league deal if he plays well this winter.

The Rays had an opportunity to change things up if they wanted to after Friday’s rain out, but they’ll stick with Martinez as they look to even up the series at two games apiece on Saturday. The Guardians will stick with their plan as well, giving the ball to Shawn Armstrong as an opener.

Major League Baseball tried to wait this one out, but the forecast wasn’t improving and the outlook looked too bleak to push it any longer. Game 4 will now be played on Saturday at 8:00 PM EST, while Game 5 will be on Sunday afternoon at 5:00 PM EST. Expect Friday’s scheduled starters — Nick Martinez for the Rays and Shawn Armstrong (as an opener) for the Guardians — to get the ball on Saturday.

The two teams remain in contact with Major League Baseball and are hopeful that they’ll be able to get the game in. Otherwise, it could lead to major changes to the rest of the postseason schedule. It sounds like they’ll do everything possible to play baseball on Friday night, just anticipate a long and rain-soaked evening at the most critical time of the season.