FORT MYERS, Fla. — Take a spin around the Grapefruit League with “Three Up, Three Down,” an inside look at what is coming up and what went down on Monday.
THREE UP
1. Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez left Detroit’s game against the New York Mets on Monday with a mild left hamstring strain, and he is expected to miss the next several games.
Martinez sustained the injury rounding first base on a fifth-inning single, then left for a pinch runner.
“It kind of grabbed me a little bit,” he said. “That’s why I stopped. Just trying to push to make it to second, and you just feel it a little bit. So just make sure, I’d better stop than keep going.”
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus downplayed the extent of the injury.
“I was concerned when it first happened because I thought it was his knee,” Ausmus said. “But when I went out there, he said it was his hamstring. So that was a big sense of relief right there.
“But it seems to be a mild strain in the meat of the hamstring, which is good. So I’m sure he’ll miss a couple of days, but I don’t expect this to be lingering. It shouldn’t affect his stolen-base numbers.”
The last line was a joke; Martinez has seven steals in 13 major league seasons.
Martinez, 37, was limited by several lower body injuries in 2015. He appeared in just 120 games last season, hitting .245 with 11 home runs and 64 RBIs. The season before that, he appeared in 151 games, batting .335 with an American League-high .409 on-base percentage and major-league-high .974 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
2. The Marlins filed a grievance because they believe former general manager/manager Dan Jennings is being underpaid by the Nationals, according to a report in the Miami Herald.
The Marlins owe Jennings the difference between what Washington is paying him and the $1.5 million they owe him. The Marlins have been told Washington is paying Jennings only $100,000 as a special assistant to general manager Mike Rizzo, which they believe is well below a salary commensurate with his responsibilities, the report stated.
According to baseballprospectus.com, the Marlins are paying three managers: current manager Don Mattingly, who was hired in November for four seasons; Mike Redmond, who is still owed a little over $2 million for 2016-17; and Jennings, who still has a total of $5.8 million due for 2016-18.
2. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval hit his first home run of the spring Monday in the Boston Red Sox’s 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, he also committed another error, his third of the spring in eight games.
Sandoval bobbled a pair of groundballs in the fourth inning. On the first, the ball popped out of his glove but he was able to recover in time to make a throw, which was low but first baseman Hanley Ramirez was able to scoop it for the out. Later in the inning, the ball again popped out of his glove, and this time he was charged with the error.
“He’s working on it and will continue to do so,” manager John Farrell said of Sandoval’s defense. “There’s work to be done.”
Sandoval caused a stir when he reported to camp appearing to be overweight and out of condition.
At minus-0.9, Sandoval had the worst defensive wins above replacement for AL third basemen last year. Inly Washington’s Yunel Escobar was worse, at minus-1.0.
The Red Sox have highly regarded Travis Shaw and super utility man Brock Holt available to play third if Sandoval doesn’t get the job done.
THREE DOWN
1. The Philadelphia Phillies’ Maikel Franco hit two more home runs Monday, giving him the major league lead with six homers in 11 games. He hit 14 home runs in 80 games last season.
It appears the broken wrist he sustained last season is fully healed. Franco was hit by a pitch from the Diamondbacks’ Jeremy Hellickson in the first inning on Aug. 11. He missed the next 46 games but returned to play the final three games of the season.
Franco, 23, played winter ball in the Dominican Republic, where he hit .234 with three home runs and a .721 OPS in 21 games.
2. The Houston Astros and Washington Nationals played to a 1-1 tie Monday in a game that featured players who have some of the shiniest hardware in the game.
Dallas Keuchel, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, started for the Astros and went three scoreless innings, giving up one hit while striking out four.
The Astros’ run came on a home run by Carlos Correa, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year. It was his first homer of the spring.
Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper, the reigning National League Most Valuable Player, showed off his arm when he threw out Tyler White, who was trying to advance from first to third on a single by Jon Singleton.
3. Pirates right-hander Daniel Bard pitched a perfect ninth inning against the Red Sox on Monday to earn his first save of the spring. Bard was a first-round (28th overall) pick by Boston in 2006. He last pitched in the big leagues in 2013 with the Red Sox. His career derailed due to wildness and injuries, and he has been with the Cubs (twice), Rangers and Pirates since then.
“You really have to admire his perseverance,” said Farrell, who was Bard’s pitching coach in 2009-10 and manager in 2013 with the Red Sox. “The last four or five years it’s been a long road for him, through the thoracic outlet, the surgery that followed, the adjustment to the arm slot, which looks like he’s gaining some comfort with. So you’re happy for him to see him back in a big league environment and throwing the ball well.”
Bard joined the Pirates as a free agent in January.
“My goal in the offseason was to stay healthy and get the ball in play as hard as possible,” he said. “The intent was good on every pitch and the aggressiveness. If I feel a little off and am still able to get a 1-2-3 inning, I’m happy with where I’m at.”
The Red Sox have a lot of new faces since they put him on waivers in September 2013.
“So much turnover has happened that I was afraid I wouldn’t know anyone,” said Bard, who left the Red Sox when he was placed on waivers in September 2013. “But I still knew the trainers, some of the guys on the coaching staff, the bullpen guys. You think about players and coaches, and a lot of them have moved on. A ton of people were welcoming, though.”