Ketel Marte is expected to join the Arizona Diamondbacks for the opener of a pivotal three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies that begins Monday in Phoenix, and his teammates appear to be all in.
Per the Arizona Republic, several veteran players met with general manager Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo prior to the team’s four-game series in San Francisco and seemed ready to accept Marte’s apology and move on.
“I don’t have a whole lot to say on it, other than we’re going to welcome him, we’re going to try to win some ball games,” third baseman Nolan Arenado told the newspaper.
“I think our focus should be on trying to get into a playoff spot and on baseball, period.”
Marte has not spoken to his teammates as a group or to the media about his unexcused absence for a game in Boston on Aug. 17. He was placed on the restricted list, then moved to the injured list with left knee inflammation. He is eligible to return Monday.
“We’re fine,” shortstop Geraldo Perdomo told the Republic. “We’re just going to move on from that. When he’s back, I know he’s going to help this team a little bit more. We’re excited for him to come back from the injury.”
Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (7-1, 3.51 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola (5-10, 5.03) in the series opener.
Arizona resumes play following a rare Sunday off. The Diamondbacks split a doubleheader in San Francisco on Saturday, which also gave them a split of the four-game series.
Philadelphia and Arizona meet with both in the thick of a four-team race for the three wild-card spots in the National League.
The Phillies moved into a tie with the Chicago Cubs for the first NL wild-card spot by finishing a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, their fourth sweep of a three-game series in August.
“We’re trying to get wins now, and it doesn’t matter how,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said.
The Phillies are 20-7 in August after going 9-15 in July.
“Good month for us after we struggled last month, and got a tough team coming up with the Diamondbacks,” said Zack Wheeler, who finished the sweep of the Angels in a 5-2 victory Sunday. “Hopefully we can go in there and win a couple of games.”
The Diamondbacks are one-half game ahead of San Diego for the third wild card after the Padres were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend.
Nola has pitched well of late, going 2-2 with a 2.60 ERA in his past six starts. He gave up two runs in six innings of a 4-1 loss at Seattle in his last outing.
“My pitches and command feel pretty nice right now,” Nola said.
Nola is 3-4 with a 6.23 ERA in eight career starts against the Arizona.
Pfaadt is 7-0 in his past 11 starts with a 2.15 ERA.
He lost a 4-3 decision against the Phillies on April 11 and is 0-2 with a 7.59 ERA in two career regular-season starts against them.
–Field Level Media
