James

McCann

It seems like a routine day off for Moreno. James McCann will start behind the dish, and Nolan Arenado will DH with Jose Fernandez playing third base.

It sounds like Moreno is headed to the paternity list. The 26-year-old backstop will likely be away from the club for a couple days. It’ll be James McCann taking over behind the plate.

The Diamondbacks blew a 6-0 lead between the eighth and ninth, but they pulled the game out in the end. Both teams scored one run in the 10th and zero runs in the 11th before McCann singled in the automatic runner in the 12th. Gerardo Carrillo then pitched his second scoreless frame to maintain the 8-7 lead and pick up his first win as a major leaguer. McCann’s four-hit game was the fourth of his career; he had one each in 2016, 2019 and 2021. He’s been on an incredible roll since coming off the injured list earlier this month, going 12-for-22 with three homers and 10 RBI. Still, he’s played in just six of 19 games during that span. Maybe the team will begin giving him the occasional DH start against lefties until he cools off.

McCann isn’t playing much with Gabriel Moreno healthy and producing, but he’s gone 7-for-15 with three homers and eight RBI in four games since coming off the injured list on July 6. The D-backs used both catchers today, with Moreno DHing, and will probably keep that up from time to time until McCann cools off.

Yep, that James McCann. He cemented the blowout with a three-run homer off Yoshinobu Yamamoto — yep, that’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto — and he added another with a solo shot against Landon Knack. McCann is not in Arizona for his offense, and while this was an impressive effort, it’s impossible to predict any sort of consistent replication.

McCann returns to Arizona’s catching mix as starter Gabriel Moreno’s backup following a nearly seven-week absence recovering from a quad strain that put him on the injured list back in late May. He showed some signs of life in his Diamondbacks debut last year and should be able to stick around in a reserve role for now.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said McCann is likely to miss 4-6 weeks after suffering a quad strain during Monday’s series opener against the Giants. It’s less of an issue for Arizona with Gabriel Moreno back from the injured list than it would’ve been earlier this year when he was sidelined.

Aramis Garcia served as McCann’s backup while Gabriel Moreno was on the injured list. He could return now to back up Moreno.

Del Castillo suffered the injury while behind the plate. The 26-year-old was unable to continue and James McCann took over. Del Castillo may need a trip to the injured list, but his status should be updated in the coming days.

It turns out Moreno was dealing with an oblique strain when the Diamondbacks said he was dealing with lower back soreness. It’s a bit unclear how much time the 26-year-old backstop is going to miss, but oblique issues can be tricky matters. It’ll be James McCann and Adrian Del Castillo handling the catching duties in his absence.