Diamondbacks miffed about preventable rainout. Kepler talks PED ban - azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic

ST. LOUIS — Not long after the tarp was pulled here in the late afternoon on Thursday, June 25, at Busch Stadium, a Diamondbacks player made his way to the dugout and gazed out at the field and the rain that fell on it. “This doesn’t make any sense,” he said. His point went without saying: The Diamondbacks were scheduled to play a fourth consecutive night game in St. Louis. Had they played a traditional “getaway day” game during the day, the rain would have never factored into the equation. The Diamondbacks had wanted the time to be changed to earlier in the day. It never was. Instead, their game against the St. Louis Cardinals wound up postponed by weather and rescheduled for July 23. That means the Diamondbacks will lose a scheduled off day and make an extra stop ahead of what already was a three-city road trip through Washington, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. “No you’re right thank you @Cardinals for not moving our game up to this afternoon when we politely asked given the whole world knew it was going to rain tonight,” Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald wrote on X. “I actually was really hoping we could lose an off day and turn it into a 4 city road trip.” Sewald punctuated his post with a thumbs up emoji. For his part, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was more diplomatic. Not to suggest he was happy with the way things played out. Lovullo said he, general manager Mike Hazen and Roger Riley, the club’s senior director of team travel, had been in regular communication about the forecast, adding they had reached out to Major League Baseball about potentially moving up Thursday’s game time to 1 p.m. “Major League Baseball has the priority on this,” Lovullo said. “We can’t make it happen ourselves. They were considering certain things. I don’t think a 1 o’clock start was ever on the table. It would have been nice. But we’ll have to live to fight another day. That’s the mentality we’ll have.” Game times can be adjusted. Earlier this season, the Diamondbacks had games against the New York Mets at Citi Field moved up because of cold temperatures in New York. The rainout on Thursday night, June 25, means the Diamondbacks will make adjustments to their pitching rotation. Right-hander Zac Gallen, who had been scheduled to pitch on Thursday, will instead be pushed back a day to Friday, June 26, in the series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays. Right-handers Jose Cabrera and Merrill Kelly will follow on Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28. Right-hander Brandon Pfaadt had been tentatively penciled in to make the start on Friday but instead will be pushed to next week, likely Tuesday, June 30, vs. the San Francisco Giants. Pfaadt will throw a live batting practice session this weekend to stay sharp. Max Kepler knows that what he has to say about his suspension is typical, but he says he doesn’t care what people think. What he cares about, he says, is that he is getting another chance to play the game he loves. Kepler, 33, joined the Diamondbacks on Thursday, June 25, at Busch Stadium, the first day he was eligible to do so after serving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. “The answer I have is really the answer that every player gives you at this point in time: I do not know how it got into my system,” Kepler said in his first public comments since the suspension. “I am responsible for the fact that it is in my system or in the urine test that the drug committee found. But I do not know how it got into my system. “I’m not the type of player who would be cheating or having the necessary need to take a supplement to get through my career. Especially not in my free agent – going into a free-agent year. That’s a little risky. I’m lucky that I’m ... back in this position now. But, yeah, that’s my stance.” Said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo: “I’m not here to really speak about what happened. I don’t know what happened. But he paid his penalty. He served it and he’s here and he wants to show the world he can still play this game at a very high level.” Kepler said being out of the game for the past six months has made him even happier to be back in it. He was a free agent at the time the suspension came down in January. He was able to serve his 80 games as a free agent, his schedule mirroring that of his former team, the Philadelphia Phillies, who played their 80th game on Wednesday, June 24. “To pop out of the baseball bubble, which I’ve been out of for the longest offseason now in the last 15, 16 years of my career, was very eye-opening,” he said. “But also at the same time, I understood how much I missed the game and how quickly it can be taken away from you. I’m coming back with a deeper appreciation, I’d say, than before.” He said the Diamondbacks were among the first teams to dispatch a scout to see him work out in Florida, which he said happened sometime around the beginning of May. “Kind of like all the other scouts, they were very positive,” he said. “But you really don’t know what to make of it until the next call comes through. They were pretty hasty with the next call. I just really wanted to be back in the league, and I looked at the group of guys, the team, obviously, I wanted to be with a winning-caliber team. That was enough for me to sign here.” Lovullo said he plans to use Kepler primarily in left field and designated hitter, likely against right-handed pitching. The Diamondbacks have struggled this year against righties, and throughout his career, Kepler has fared better against righties than lefties. Kepler took the place of infielder/outfielder Tim Tawa, who was optioned to Triple-A Reno. Kepler signed a league-minimum deal with the Diamondbacks on June 7. He played 10 games in the minors before his activation, going 10 for 30 with a double, two homers, seven walks and six strikeouts. He split time among the complex league, High-A Hillsboro and Reno. The club also sent down left-hander Mitch Bratt, who threw three innings and gave up one run on Wednesday night, June 24, in his major league debut, to add a fresh arm for the bullpen. Right-handed reliever Juan Burgos was recalled. Bratt was given a spot start on June 24 in part because right-hander Brandon Pfaadt’s pitching schedule in Reno did not line up well with rotation vacancies in the majors. Pfaadt is expected to join the team and start Friday, June 26, in Tampa. He and right-hander Jose Cabrera are the rotation fill-ins for right-handers Ryne Nelson and Michael Soroka, both of whom landed on the injured list last weekend. To make room for Kepler on the 40-man roster, the Diamondbacks shifted right-hander Ryne Nelson to the 60-day injured list. The move is retroactive to June 15 and pushes Nelson’s earliest possible return date to the middle of August. In reality, though, Nelson isn’t expected back by then anyway, Lovullo said. Meanwhile, catcher James McCann (right quad) has progressed to the point that he was expected to play in an Arizona Complex League game on Thursday, Lovullo said. McCann could return from the injured list within the next week or two, Lovullo said. Friday, June 26: At Tampa, 4:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (3-6, 6.10) vs. Rays RHP Nick Martinez (6-2, 2.73). Saturday, June 27: At Tampa, 3:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Jose Cabrera (0-0, 0.00) vs. Rays TBA. Sunday, June 28: At Tampa, 10:40 a.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (5-7, 5.71) vs. Rays RHP Drew Rasmussen (6-4, 2.62). (This story has been updated to add information.)