The Buzz — Wednesday, August 19

Max Fried

The take Fried back on IL with elbow bruise; Yankees hopeful short stay

The Yankees placed Fried on the 15-day IL Monday with a left elbow bone bruise — the same diagnosis that cost him over two months, from May 13 to July 22. Boone says the club believes he can miss the minimum, and Fried has already resumed throwing after an MRI. Hopeful is the word, not certain.

The prior bruise swallowed most of the summer, and this is the same injury. What argues against panic is the pitching: five starts since his return, 1.82 ERA in 24 2/3 innings, and in his last outing Thursday a 93.3 mph fastball right where his season average sits. The stuff was there. The elbow was not — or not for long. Rodón was activated to start Tuesday, but Fried's 2.81 ERA in 15 starts is the line of a front-end arm the Yankees need in October, and the same bruise has already shown it can cost months.

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Fernando Tatis Jr.

The take Tatis two HRs plus grand slam robbery go viral

Tuesday produced a box score that looks like a typo — two home runs and a grand slam stolen at the wall, same player. Tatis hit a 452-foot leadoff shot and a two-run homer the other way, giving him 15 on the year after zero in his first 238 at-bats. But the number that settled the game was the run that never scored: his second-inning leap at the right-field fence took four off the board. He created three runs and erased four — a seven-run swing in a 5-2 win. Tatis called the catch his favorite moment, and the math agrees.

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Alex Bregman

The take Bregman walk-off single beats White Sox for Cubs again

The Cubs' 4-3 walk-off win over the White Sox on Tuesday was their MLB-leading 13th of the year — a number that says this team has made the ninth inning part of its identity. Bregman's two-out single off Trevor Richards scored the winner after Carson Kelly's leadoff double and an intentional walk to Pete Crow-Armstrong, and it was his second key hit of the night: he had already singled in the seventh to tie the score at 3.

An 88-minute rain delay in the eighth interrupted everything, and the Cubs came out of it and still manufactured the run. That is what 13 walk-offs by mid-August looks like — a club that has been in this spot enough times to know the delay does not change the plan.

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Shohei Ohtani

The take Ohtani hits 30th HR amid tight MVP race with PCA

Ohtani's 448-foot two-run shot off Ryan Feltner on Tuesday was his 30th of the year, his sixth straight season reaching 30. The line sits at .294, 80 RBIs, .948 OPS, and he was 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA on the mound before his July 3 shutdown for left knee soreness. The MVP race with Crow-Armstrong is genuine — DraftKings moved PCA to the favorite at -120 — but Ohtani's case rests on two-way value, and the pitching half has been quiet since July 3.

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Ketel Marte

The take Marte on restricted list after personal-issue no-show

Marte flew to Boston with the team Sunday night, was in the city Monday, and did not report to Fenway Park. The Diamondbacks held the lineup until 20 minutes before first pitch, placed him on the restricted list, and played without him. Lovullo's description was unusually bare: 'All I know is that he's dealing with a personal issue... there was very little coming back.'

By Tuesday the story had moved — but not toward clarity. Lovullo said he was told Marte traveled back to Phoenix for an MRI on his left knee, the same knee that forced him out of Friday's game and kept him out Saturday before he returned Sunday. Lovullo still had not spoken to him. Perdomo said Marte texted about discomfort and the MRI. The restricted-list placement began as a personal matter and acquired a physical one, and neither is resolved.

This is the second straight season on the restricted list — last year it followed a burglary at his home during the All-Star break. The pattern is not the story; the present is. A club in the wild-card race is missing a three-time All-Star hitting .249 with 21 homers and 67 RBIs in 118 games, and the manager has not spoken to him in two days. Lovullo said he hopes Marte plays again this year and added, 'We need him.' That is a manager saying what a roster cannot replace — and nobody can say when it ends.

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