Arizona

Diamondbacks

Puk was in the final stages of his rehabilitation from last year’s internal brace procedure on his elbow before the shoulder issue cropped up while pitching at Triple-A Reno. He’s been pulled off a minor league rehab assignment to undergo further evaluation and imaging. The 31-year-old high-leverage arm was trending towards a mid-June return to Arizona’s bullpen. There should be an update on his status later this weekend.

Sewald retired all three batters he faced in the inning, kicking things off with a strikeout of Dane Myers. Sewald now has seven saves and two wins in his last 10 appearances and is allowing opposing hitters to hit just .143 in the month of June.

In addition to his two hits, Lawlar was also hit by a pitch in the sixth inning and later came around to score to tie the game at 2-2. The 23-year-old outfielder came up big for the Diamondbacks in the ninth inning when he singled to drive home Geraldo Perdomo and Ildemaro Vargas to extend the Diamondbacks’ lead to 5-2. This was Lawlar’s first game since returning from the 60-day DL. He did a little bit of everything in this one and provided a nice spark to the offense in his return. His progress will be worth monitoring as he looks to get back in the groove of things after an extended absence.

Rodriguez struggled with his command early in this one. He threw 40 pitches and walked three batters in the first inning, but somehow managed to escape the frame after forcing back-to-back flyouts to end a bases-loaded threat. Rodriguez would allow a leadoff homer to Noelvi Marte to start the second inning, and he only recorded two outs in the third before being pulled with a runner on and 85 pitches thrown. The five walks Rodriguez allowed are the most he has allowed in any game this season. We’ll assume this was just a bad night, and he’ll regain his command in his next start, which is scheduled for Wednesday against the Angels.

Ryan Waldschmidt and Tommy Troy are both playing almost every day of late, but we’d guess Lawlar’s lineup plans involve going through Troy in left field. Lawlar had hit .333/.400/.556 in 20 plate appearances before fracturing his wrist in April. One of the better prospects in the sport over the past few years, fantasy managers would be wise to keep an eye on Lawlar. The fact that he qualifies at third base in most leagues doesn’t hurt either.

The 33-year-old will likely return to Triple-A Reno if he clears waivers. Garcia served as an emergency depth piece while James McCann was out. The Diamondbacks appear to think they can get by with Adrian Del Castillo as their backup catcher in the short term.

The versatile 23-year-old has been sidelined since suffering a fractured right wrist during the first week of April. He made it through a minor league rehab stint at Triple-A Reno without any issues though and is ready to rejoin the big league club. The Diamondbacks will have to make a pair of roster moves to accommodate his return on Friday.

His on-base percentage is back below .300 -- he’s taken one walk all month -- and outside of a three-hit game on Tuesday, Marte has been extra-base hit or bust this month. The .295/.345/.524 May doesn’t seem like it fixed everything just yet. Marte did have the only one of three Diamondbacks hits that went for extra bases today, so at least there’s that.

He was thoroughly outdueled by Tyler Phillips, and the underlying numbers here remain uninteresting in fantasy baseball. Kelly got whiffs on just 3-of-33 swings, and while he’s only really been dusted by the Nationals in his last seven starts and is giving the Diamondbacks length, he has just 24 strikeouts over those seven starts. He’ll draw the Angels next week.

Since being activated from the IL on June 1, Smith has started against righties and been a bench bat otherwise. It hasn’t gone well yet — he’s hitting .120/.281/.120 in his first 32 plate appearances. Gabriel Moreno is grabbing a DH game after catching last night in Smith’s place.