A look at what's happening around the majors on Wednesday:
WHAT AN ERA
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Miami Marlins right-hander Pablo López will carry a majors-leading 0.52 ERA into his start at Washington.
Nationals righty Erick Fedde, meanwhile, enters with a 6.75 ERA.
How dominant has López been in 2022? He has given up just one earned run and a total of 10 hits across 17 1/3 innings through three appearances so far this season. His record is 2-0.
In his last outing, López struck out nine batters over seven scoreless innings in a 5-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday — less than a week after getting married on a day off for the Marlins.
Last season, the 26-year-old from Venezuela became just the second pitcher in major league history — and first since 1884! — to strike out the first nine batters of a game.
ROSARIO OUT
Braves postseason star Eddie Rosario is expected to miss eight to 12 weeks because of blurred vision and swelling in his right eye.
Rosario was the MVP of the NL Championship Series last season and helped Atlanta win its first World Series title in 26 years. But the outfielder was off to a tough start with just three hits in his first 44 at-bats for an .068 average, with no homers or RBIs.
Rosario has been dealing with swelling in his right retina. He was examined by a retinal specialist Monday and will undergo a laser procedure to correct the blurred vision.
The Braves will get a boost soon with the return of star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Coming back from a knee injury that ended his 2021 season, he is expected to play at least two more games with Triple-A Gwinnett as part of his rehab assignment.
Acuña has been projected to rejoin the Braves on May 6, but that timetable could be moved up with the defending champs off to a slow start.
OHTANI'S TURN
Angels star Shohei Ohtani is back on the mound after a dominant performance in his last outing.
The reigning AL MVP lost his first two starts of the season, but overpowered the Astros in Houston last week. Ohtani struck out 12 and allowed just one hit in six scoreless innings. He didn't permit a runner until there were two outs in the sixth.
The two-way sensation is back in Anaheim this week to take on the Cleveland Guardians.
WELCOME BACK
The Minnesota Twins will face popular ex-teammate Michael Pineda in the middle game of their series against Detroit. After spending the last four seasons with Minnesota, including 2018 when he was rehabilitating from Tommy John elbow surgery, will start for the Tigers at Target Field.
“I shouldn’t say I’m looking forward to seeing him pitch against us, but I look forward to seeing him in the flesh and see his big smile and hopefully catch up with him a little bit this series,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Mike Pineda did some incredible things for us, pitched a lot of winning ballgames for us, whenever we needed him – many times. And he’s an excellent human being to be around.”
Last week, Pineda beat another one of his former teams, the New York Yankees, with five scoreless innings in his Tigers debut. The 33-year-old first broke in the majors with the Seattle Mariners in 2011, when he made the All-Star team.
ON THE MEND
The White Sox are sticking with a six-to-eight week timeline for Eloy Jiménez after the outfielder had surgery this week to repair a torn hamstring tendon behind his right knee.
Jiménez was hurt during Saturday when he stretched for first base while running out a grounder to third. It was the latest injury setback for the 25-year-old slugger.
Jiménez was sidelined for much of last year for the AL Central champs after he ruptured his left pectoral tendon trying to make a catch on a home run during a spring training game. He played in 55 games during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, batting .296 with 14 homers and 41 RBIs.
He hit 31 homers in 122 games as a rookie in 2019.
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PINSTRIPE PUNISHMENT
A letter set to be unsealed in U.S. District Court in New York this week reveals the Yankees were fined $100,000 by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred for using their dugout phone to relay information about opposing teams’ signs during the 2015 season and part of 2016.
MLB has said the fine was for violating rules on the use of the dugout phone but made the distinction that the Yankees did not use electronics to steal signs, a greater violation that led in January 2020 to the Houston Astros getting fined $5 million and resulted in one-year suspensions for Astros manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow. Both were fired for the team’s conduct during the 2017 season.
The letter’s contents were first reported Tuesday by SNY and the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.
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