Marlins notes: Andre Rienzo reinstated, Christian Yelich day to day
MIAMI -- The Miami Marlins reinstated right-hander Andre Rienzo from the disabled list and optioned righty Scott McGough to Triple-A New Orleans on Thursday.
Rienzo, placed on the DL retroactive to Aug. 4 with a left knee laceration, has a 5.23 ERA in six relief outings spanning 10 1/3 innings this season. The 27-year-old went 2-6 with a 3.01 ERA in 15 games (14 starts) with the Zephyrs in 2015. He injured himself covering home plate on a wild pitch when the New York Mets' Yoenis Cespedes slid into him in early August.
With many pitchers on the staff nearing career highs in innings, the Marlins could use additional arms to help with the workload.
"We just got to make sure we feel good about having innings covered, and in Andre's case he didn't get set out for an arm injury (but with) the laceration on the knee," manager Dan Jennings said. "He's back, he's healthy, he's stretched out, and we're just trying to keep as many ready-to-go arms here until we reach the call-up date in September."
McGough, acquired in the Hanley Ramirez trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, has bounced back after a rough big-league debut Aug. 20, when he allowed three runs on five hits over 2/3 frames in that appearance.
The 25-year-old rookie threw a scoreless inning Monday and threw two scoreless innings in Wednesday's loss.
"Great location of the fastball and the fact that he was able to double up with his slider and the angle and the depth of the slider was good," Jennings said. "I think his first outing probably a little nervous and a little amped up, but last night he showed the ability to settle in and give us two strong and utilize his pitches in a big way."
YELICH DAY TO DAY
Christian Yelich is day to day after re-aggravating his right knee contusion Wednesday. He called it less of a bone bruise and more of a muscle bruise. Derek Dietrich started in left field in his place.
Yelich, who was activated Tuesday, fouled a ball off his ankle during Wednesday's game and ran gingerly over the course of the night. He said he doesn't want it to be a chronic issue, so the ballclub will be careful with his return. Yelich didn't plan on performing baseball activities Thursday.
"We knew it was going to be touch and go with it and to his credit he jumped right out there in a couple of days, so now we just need to let the flare go out and get him back normal," Jennings said.
FERNANDEZ THROWS
Ace Jose Fernandez (right biceps strain) tossed his first bullpen Thursday since landing on the disabled list Aug. 11, and it was so successful the Marlins anticipate a return early-to-mid September.
"I think it went something like, 'Wow,' " Jennings said. "I talked to (head athletic trainer) Sean (Cunningham) and he said it was very impressive, said he's right on track. Looks good. Jumped out of his hand, so we'll start to build that up now. There'll be another bullpen, there'll be a sim game and somewhere early-to-mid September is probably a realistic target date. Where exactly that is I don't know, but we'll definitely have that."
You can follow Christina De Nicola on Twitter @CDeNicola13 or email her at cdenicola13@gmail.com.
