Cincinnati Reds Press Clippings April 14, 2018

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1 Cincinnati Reds Press Clippings April 14, 2018 THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1910-Cincinnati native, William Howard Taft becomes the first president to throw out the first pitch at an opener, in Washington Shorthanded Reds match dubious club mark By Mark Sheldon 12:53 AM ET MLB.COM CINCINNATI -- The last time the Reds opened a season with these kinds of struggles was 1955, when rock 'n' roll music and McDonald's were just getting started and the polio vaccine was deemed safe and effective. With a 5-3 loss to the Cardinals on Friday at Great American Ball Park, the Reds fell to The 1955 club, which also sat at 2-11, rallied to finish the season with a record. Cincinnati has dropped six in a row while scoring 16 runs during the skid -- clearly missing the contributions of injured players like Eugenio Suarez and Scott Schebler. Jesse Winker was added to the list when he was scratched moments before first pitch. "We're just not playing good baseball in general," catcher Devin Mesoraco said. "We're not pitching, not playing good defense, not hitting. Obviously losing Geno and Schebler is an issue, but it gives other guys opportunity. When you're in that situation, you have to step up and you have to take advantage of it. We just have to play better." Cardinals starter Luke Weaver began his night by walking Billy Hamilton, then retired 12 in a row before an infield hit by Mesoraco began the fifth inning. Mesoraco returned in the seventh and ended Weaver's shutout bid, and evening, with a two-run homer to left field. After a promising beginning to his night, Reds rookie starter Tyler Mahle was knocked out of the game after 5 1/3 innings with five earned runs, nine hits, no walks and five strikeouts. Mahle also surrendered two home runs, increasing the pitching staff's Major League high to 23. As he demonstrated good command of his four-seam fastball, all five of Mahle's strikeouts came over the first three innings. Yadier Molina's two-out solo homer to right field in the second was the lone blemish for a while. A double play by Marcell Ozuna ended the fourth and following back-to-back errors by third baseman Cliff Pennington, Mahle escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam unscathed in the fifth. Weaver grounded into an inning-ending double play that kept the Reds within striking distance. Mahle couldn't keep St. Louis down in the sixth, with four straight hits to begin the inning. Dexter Fowler led off with a homer to the first row of seats in right field. Ozuna's RBI single scored Tommy Pham and Molina's two-run single made it 5-0 and ended the right-hander's night. Like in his previous start at Pittsburgh on Sunday, the third time through the opponent's lineup did Mahle in. "They hit some good pitches that hurt me. They ended up hitting the bad ones, too," said Mahle, who is 1-2 with a 5.63 ERA in three starts. "They didn't do that earlier in the game." The Reds crept closer in the eighth with Joey Votto's one-out RBI single against Tyler Lyons, making it a two-run game. But with Mesoraco representing the tying run at the plate with two outs, Votto reacted late to right-hander Dominic Leone's pickoff throw and made the third out. Bud Norris was entrusted with the save attempt in the ninth and gave up a one-out single to Adam Duvall, followed by a Phillip Ervin walk that put the tying run on first base. Norris recovered and struck out Alex Blandino swinging and got a called third strike on pinch-hitter Tucker Barnhart to end the game. Besides hitting.230 as a team, the Reds entered the evening with the fewest runs scored in the National League.

2 "[There are] some guys that are having a hard time getting started that will," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "I think when the season is over, we'll look up and be real happy with the numbers. The thing is in order to win games, we're going to need to be more proficient offensively, we'll have to stay away from the big inning from a pitching perspective, and we're going to have to play much better defense. We have a lot of areas to work on right now." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Mesoraco goes deep: Following Scooter Gennett's leadoff single in the seventh, a roller into right field that gave Cincinnati its first hit that left the infield, Mesoraco provided something more powerful. He slugged Weaver's 1-2 pitch into the left-field seats for his first homer of the season. Mesoraco, who is now a backup to Barnhart following three injury-filled seasons, last homered on June 16, 2017, against the Dodgers. "A veteran team like that, the third time through [the order], they made some adjustments and were able to get the barrel to it," Mesoraco said. "We have to keep chipping away there when we're down." First big league hit: Pinch-hitting for the Reds in the seventh inning, Blandino sent a two-out single through the middle for his first Major League hit. Blandino was called up for the first time from Triple-A Louisville on Monday and came into the game 0-for-7. HE SAID IT "It's a pretty polished lineup. There's not a whole lot of places to go. If you choose to pitch around Molina, then you've got [Paul] DeJong. There's not a lot of soft places to go with this lineup. You have to pitch well. You can't make many mistakes, they take advantage of it. Especially elevation pitches, they were able to get to their power a little bit and drive some balls into the outfield and put together a nice inning." -- Price, on the Cardinals' four-run sixth inning against Mahle MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY Weaver took a no-hitter into the fifth inning when Mesoraco led off with a grounder to shortstop DeJong, who made a nice diving stop to his left. Mesoraco was ruled safe on the field after DeJong's throw from his knees was not in time. The Cardinals challenged the call and after a lengthy review, replay officials determined that the call stands as it could not be definitively determined that the ball was in Jose Martinez's glove at first base before Mesoraco touched the bag. UP NEXT Brandon Finnegan will be making his 2018 debut as the Reds host the Cardinals today at 1:10 p.m. ET. Finnegan, who will be working opposite St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas, is pitching for the first time since June 26, He began this season on the disabled list because of a left biceps strain. Finnegan comes off DL, will start today Reds move Reed to bullpen, call up Floro, option Rainey, DFA Hernandez By Mark Sheldon 32 minutes ago CINCINNATI -- The Reds announced Brandon Finnegan has been activated from the 10-day disabled list on Saturday and will make his 2018 debut against the Cardinals. It will be Finnegan's first big league start since June 26, 2017, also vs. St. Louis. Finnegan, who turns 25 today, sustained a strained left trapezius last April after three starts. Upon his return in June, he strained the teres major muscle near his left shoulder in the fourth inning of his comeback outing. That July, he dislocated his right shoulder after falling from a boat and required surgery. During Spring Training on March 11, Finnegan exited a start in the first inning with a left forearm strain that put him behind schedule to begin the regular season. "It's just tough. You hate sitting around watching your team play and not being a part of it -- especially since I haven't pitched since June," Finnegan said. "As soon as I get a chance, I hope I can help us win." Cody Reed, who was penciled in to start Saturday, is available from the bullpen. Reed pitched a scoreless eighth inning on Thursday. Finnegan threw 98 pitches in a rehab assignment start on Monday for Triple-A Louisville. He allowed four runs (three earned), eight hits and five walks with two strikeouts.

3 "He recovered from his last start. He came out of it feeling good," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "He threw a good bullpen [session]. I think everybody signed off on the fact that the kid is ready. He's done everything we've asked him to do. Now, we need to get him out into a big league ballgame and see where he is at. It's good to have him back." Floro called up On the heels of Thursday's 13-4 loss to the Cardinals and amid heavy bullpen use lately, the Reds called up Dylan Floro from Louisville on Friday. Tanner Rainey, who walked his first three batters in the seventh inning for three runs on Thursday, was optioned to Louisville to make room on the 25-man roster. The Reds designated Ariel Hernandez for assignment to clear a spot for Floro on the 40-man roster. Floro, 27, was a non-roster invite to Spring Training and compiled a 4.66 ERA in seven games. He was sent to Minor League camp on March 22. He threw three scoreless innings in two games for Louisville. "We could use another sinkerball pitcher to go with Jared Hughes coming out of the bullpen to keep the ball on the ground, keep it in the park," Price said. "I think the fact he's pitched in the big leagues before could make a difference. He won't have to get over, so much, the jitters." Floro made 12 appearances for the Rays in 2016 and pitched in three games for the Cubs last season. "No matter what -- it doesn't matter if it's five years, two years or five days -- every chance you get to come back to the big leagues is special," Floro said. Floro wasn't discouraged when he was cut during camp, especially when he impressed in his first few outings. "You can't sit and look at negatives," Floro said. "I went to Louisville and took advantage of my first couple of outings, and it got me the chance to get back up here." Schebler improving Reds right fielder Scott Schebler, who hasn't played since being hit on the right elbow by a pitch on April 1, was in a great mood on Friday. Schebler, who sustained ulnar nerve damage, finally has the feeling back in his right pinky and ring fingers. "It's pretty exciting stuff to feel your fingers again. You take that for granted," Schebler said. "I went through throwing and went through hitting today. It was really good." Schebler is eligible to be activated from the 10-day DL on Tuesday, but it remains to be seen if he will go out on a rehab assignment to get some at-bats. Morale maintaining The Reds are off to their worst start since they went 2-11 in Price, obviously, isn't pleased with the team's record but felt that veterans like Joey Votto, Eugenio Suarez, Devin Mesoraco and Tucker Barnhart have helped keep morale from spiraling. "I think they keep a really good tenor in the clubhouse," Price said. "We've been through some stretches, really challenging and difficult times as far as winning games the last few years. It's nothing you get comfortable with or accept or tolerate or say, 'This is OK.' But we can make this a much worse environment if we lose sight of what we're trying to do, and that's improve and get better and get over this hurdle." Winker scratched with sore right shoulder By Mark Sheldon 12:00 AM ET CINCINNATI -- Moments prior to Friday's first pitch against the Cardinals, the Reds announced that right fielder Jesse Winker was scratched because of a sore right shoulder. Phillip Ervin replaced Winker in the starting lineup. "He wasn't really available to do much more than pinch-run," Reds manager Bryan Price said after the 5-3 loss to St. Louis at Great American Ball Park. "If you know Jesse, that's probably not going to be the first skill set we're going to showcase." The severity of the injury wasn't immediately known, but the struggling Reds can ill-afford to have another regular miss time. Outfielder Scott Schebler (right ulnar nerve) and third baseman Eugenio Suarez (fractured right thumb) are already on the disabled list. Price had conferred with the trainers but hadn't spoken to the team doctors yet about Winker's prognosis.

4 "It could be something that could just be a couple of days of inactivity," Price said. "We don't think it's more than that. But you know how things change overnight. We'll have a better assessment tomorrow." Winker, 24, is batting.250/.400/.250 in 11 games this season. CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Cincinnati Reds show a little life late but still lose 5-3 to St. Louis Cardinals John Fay, jfay@enquirer.com Published 9:48 p.m. ET April 13, 2018 Updated 10:25 p.m. ET April 13, 2018 The Reds showed a little late life on offense Friday night just not enough to avoid a loss. They fell 5-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals before a crowd of 19,561 at Great American Ball Park. Two of the runs came in the seventh, the other in eighth. They put the tying runs on base in the ninth. But it just added up to another loss. The Reds have lost eight of nine and stand at They entered the night last in the National League in runs scored. Three players from the Opening Day lineup were out Friday. Eugenio Suarez (thumb) and Scott Schebler (forearm) are on the disabled list. Jesse Winker was a late scratch with a sore shoulder. "We've started off slow," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "We're missing Geno and Scheb. Those are big losses. We didn't have Winker available today. And some guys are having a hard time getting started and will. I think when the season is over, we'll look up and be happy with the numbers." And in the meantime? "In order to win games, we're going to have to be more proficient offensively," Price said. "We're going to have to stay away from the big inning from a pitching standpoint. We're going to have to play much better defense. We've got a lot of areas to work right now." The big inning came in play Friday. Rookie right-hander Tyler Mahle was very good until the four-run sixth. He went 5 ⅓ innings and allowed five runs on nine hits. He walked none and struck out five. He s allowed 10 runs on 18 hits over 10 innings in his last two starts. He threw six innings of one-hit, shutout ball in his first start of the year. Yadier Molina gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead with his fifth home run of the year, an opposite-field shot that just made the seats in right. Luke Weaver, the 24-year-old right-hander for St. Louis, walked Billy Hamilton to start the first and then retired the next 12 in a row. He did not allow a hit until Devin Mesoraco led off the fifth with an infield single. Shortstop Paul DeJong made a diving stop on the ball. The play was close enough that the Cards challenged it. The call stood after a two-minute, 55-second review. Mahle wasn t that efficient. But he did some nice work, especially in the fifth. Jose Martinez led off with his sixth hit of the series. The Cardinals then loaded the bases on back-to-back errors by third baseman Cliff Pennington. But Mahle got Kolten Wong to pop out foul and Weaver to hit into a double play. Things got away from Mahle in the sixth. Dexter Fowler made it 2-0 with a solo shot to start the inning. Tommy Pham followed with a single, and Matt Carpenter doubled. Marcell Ozuna got Pham in with a single. Mahle got an out, then gave up a two-run single to Molina. That made it 5-0 and ended Mahle s night. "We weren't in position to give up much more than a run or so," Price said. "We ended up being in situations defensively where we had to shrink the infield. We couldn't really stem the tide there." "They hit some good pitches," Mahle said. "I also made some bad pitches that they hit. It was a mixture of both."

5 The Reds had a total of two hits at that point. But the offense came to life. Scooter Gennett led off the seventh with a single. Mesoraco followed with a line drive that just made the seats in left field. That was it for Weaver. The Reds added another run in the eighth. Hamilton led off with a walk. He moved to second on Jose Peraza's bunt. Joey Votto got Hamilton in with a single to left. The inning ended when Votto got picked off at first base with the Mesoraco at the plate. Cincinnati Reds have had a power outage during the rough start team is dead last in the NL in runs scored John Fay, jfay@enquirer.com Published 6:57 p.m. ET April 13, 2018 Updated 7:24 p.m. ET April 13, 2018 It is not a complete shock the Reds have gotten off to a horrendous start. The team is coming off three straight 90-loss seasons after all. But the Reds were a decent offensive ball club last year on their way to 94 losses. They finished eighth in the National League in runs and sixth in on-base plus slugging. They entered Friday last in runs in the NL and 15th in OPS. The pitching has been bad an NL worst 6.13 ERA but that is not a shock. Going from.761 to.626 in OPS is a shock. The lack of power is responsible for almost of all that. The Reds slugging percentage was.305 through 12 games. Last year, the team slugged at a.433 clip. There are explanations for this: Joey Votto s slugging percentage was exactly the same as his batting average entering Friday, i.e., he has no extra-base hits. Two players with considerable pop Scott Schebler and Eugenio Suarez are on the disabled list. Overall, the Reds entered Friday with seven home runs. That put them on pace to hit 95 for the year. They hit 219 last year. For things to get better, the pop is going to have to return. The Reds haven t been able to cash in on good pitching. The Reds entered Friday 1-4 when they got a quality start. Last year, they were when they got a quality start. Manager Bryan Price s future is the big topic of discussion. But, if the big boys don t hit, there is little the manager can do. The thing I don t want to do is start to force things to happen and get away from the strengths of the players, he said. Hit and run, steal with guys who aren t true base-stealers. Try to force things in situations where you shouldn t. That s just not a good idea. You have to allow the players to play to their strengths, put them in position to perform. They re working hard. The morale s been fine. We need to get something put together. We ve got to gain some consistency with our offense. The team doesn t have a lot of players who have been on winning teams. Only Votto, Homer Bailey, Devin Mesoraco and Billy Hamilton played on the last Reds winner, the 2013 team. But Price thinks the mix is right in the clubhouse to keep the morale from sinking amid the horrible start. We have the right group of guys here for that, Price said, especially with the energy Joey brings everyday, Suarez and (Tucker) Barnhart and Mesoraco. I think they keep a really good tenor in the clubhouse. We ve been through some stretches, challenging difficult times as far as winning games over the last few years. It s nothing you accept or get comfortable with or tolerate or say hey, this is OK. We can make this a much worse environment to be in if we lose sight of what we re trying to do. That s improve and get better. The morale has been terrific. It s hard to be where we are without thinking guys going to be down, disappointed, get lethargic. We re not doing that. We re not going to allow that to happen. The staff has been phenomenal in that regard. We will maintain our optimism. THE ATHLETIC

6 Zack Weiss and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad debut By C. Trent Rosecrans 32m ago Tanner Rainey could relate to Zack Weiss' plight better than anyone. Tuesday in Philadelphia, Rainey gave up four runs in his big-league debut. Thursday night, Weiss gave up four runs in his bigleague debut. Rainey, 192 days Weiss' junior, approached Weiss following Thursday's game. Don't let this ruin your debut, Weiss recalled Rainey telling him. You still accomplished a goal. As bad as it sucks and as down on yourself as you are this moment, don't let it ruin your night. Rainey told his teammate that he let his debut get ruined by his outing. He went to eat with his family and couldn't stop thinking about his performance at Citizens Bank Park. It ruined the joy of making the debut for him, Weiss said. It was nice of him to say that. That's not to say Weiss' dinner with his father at Yardhouse after the game was a laugh-fest. Still, it was nice. Obviously, it's my dad, he's still very proud and happy to be here, which means a lot to me, Weiss said. Thanks to the rainout of Opening Day, Ernest and Nancy Weiss were able to make it to Great American Ball Park for their son's first day in a big-league uniform. A day later, he was back on his way to Louisville, optioned to Triple-A when the Reds signed Yovani Gallardo. He was called up again this week, but his family wasn't able to make it to Philadelphia. Ernest Weiss was able to make it to Cincinnati for the start of the Reds' homestead on Wednesday, and he was there in the top of the seventh when Weiss, wearing No. 49, came out of the Reds' bullpen in right field with the home team trailing 5-4. Weiss said he felt good, he was even surprised a bit that he didn't have the type of jitters he'd expect for his first big-league game. A little more than a year ago, as he was in spring training with the Reds and recovering from surgery to transpose a nerve in his right elbow, Weiss had talked with his roommate about the possibility that his career was done. He has a degree in Geography and Environmental Studies from UCLA with a minor in geographical information systems. Still, he can't imagine himself sitting in a computer lab eight hours a day. But he found himself someplace less comfortable Thursday down 2-0 to the first big-league batter he'd ever faced, the Cardinals' Jose Martinez. It'd get worse. Weiss' third career big-league pitch was a 93.5-mph fastball that Martinez turned around at mph for a home run. Then came Yadier Molina, a future Hall of Famer and a man who gets booed when he gets off the plane in Cincinnati. Two more balls and another home run that was featured on MLB's StatCast, a 438-foot upper-deck shot to left-center. As if that wasn't bad enough, he threw four straight balls to Paul DeJong. Then three balls to Kolten Wong before his first strike. That, though, was followed by another ball and a visit to the mound from Reds manager Bryan Price, replacing Weiss with Rainey. When the dust settled, the Reds' deficit had gone from one run to eight Rainey walked three and gave up a hit of his own, leaving Weiss with an infinite ERA. My command was terrible. I didn't feel like I was super sped up or the moment got too big I was just bad, Weiss said. I think that was the most frustrating part for myself was it wasn't one of those where I can't calm down or something like that. I was just garbage. Veteran Jared Hughes had a word with Weiss and so did Rainey. It was a tough debut, so, I would say and did say, 'Congratulations on your debut. Sorry it didn't go the way you wanted, but just keep getting after it,' Hughes said. But he's such a motivated, hard-working guy. He's a great pitcher, we've all seen that here. They both are. There's one way to go now, that's up. Catcher Tucker Barnhart has seen plenty of big-league debuts over the last few years with the Reds. Those don't define a career.

7 All you can say is that there are better days ahead. He's been in the league for what feels like five minutes, Barnhart said. To have it go like that, the good thing is the first one is out of the way. I felt that way when I made my debut, I was glad the first one was over good or bad because once you get to the point where you feel yourself in a game, you start to work your way back to normalcy, and I'm sure that's how he'll feel. After dinner with his dad, a phone call to his mom and a Skype session with his girlfriend, Weiss' Thursday night (or really early Friday morning) was like any other. He went back to his hotel and turned on an episode of The Office. He was able to laugh his way through the season 4 episode Survivor Man ( It's quality, middle of season four when the show's at its peak, he noted) and mid-way through the next episode, The Deposition, he fell asleep. The Enemy of Being Average April 13, 2018 Jason Linden CINCINNATI MAGAZINE It s been a difficult start to the season for the Reds and, as is always the case, this has people quickly calling for changes. And I get it. I m for anything that gets the Reds winning more games. But I also think some things get left out of the discussion because they aren t as in your face as, say, home runs and RBI. Recently, on Twitter, home of all reasonable thought, I came across a statement from someone that the Reds should just get a center fielder who can field and hit. Sounds like a good plan, right? Except there aren t very many of those guys. Among qualified centerfielders, there were seven who produced at an average or better level in both offense and defense last season and only 3 who were significantly better than average in both areas. In fact, there were only 15 out of 52 qualified outfielders in all of baseball who were even two runs above average defensively. Billy Hamilton s 10.7 runs above average in 2017 (according to FanGraphs) makes him the fourth best outfielder in all of baseball. By contrast, Scooter Gennett sure did hit last year, but he was also dead last in fielding among the 34 players who saw time at second and had at least 400 plate appearances. That s not so great. But here s my larger point. It s easy to forget what average means. Half of all players are below average because that s how math works. Everyone can t be above average. Last year s World Champion Houston Astros had six everyday fielders with negative defensive value. SIX! That s 75 percent of their everyday lineup. They also had Carlos Beltran hitting terribly for more than 500 plate appearances. And, as noted, they won the World Series. My point isn t that the Reds don t need to improve. (They do.) It s that there are multiple ways to improve. The starting pitching, for instance, was only worth 2.8 WAR last year. Meaning the Reds could have called up the average triple-a staff and only been expected to lose about three more games. Rocky as the early season has been this year, that s one aspect that has already clearly improved. In the lineup, sure, Billy Hamilton s 1.3 WAR is below average, but so is Adam Duvall s 1.7 WAR from last year. He hits more homers than Billy, but he doesn t get to as many balls or run nearly as well. Scott Schebler is everyone s favorite candidate to replace Billy in center right now. I do believe he ll hit, but he s not the fielder Billy is or anything remotely like it, to be honest. It s a tradeoff many fans would choose to make that doesn t necessarily make the Reds better. I ll end with a little comfort. The Reds are an incredibly young team and young teams can absolutely get better in a hurry (see the aforementioned Houston Astros). In the meantime, I m going to enjoy what I can about the Reds. It sure is nice to see Homer Bailey doing well. And I m encouraged by the young starting pitching. It s fun to watch Billy catch things. Also, Joey Votto plays for the Reds. Never forget Joey Votto. But also remember that even when the Reds are running away with the division next year, they ll probably still have a few players who aren t as good as you think they should be. We live in the real world here, not Lake Wobegone. All of the Reds may not be above average, but that isn t the only way for the team to succeed, either. Transactions 04/14/18 Cincinnati Reds optioned RHP Zack Weiss to Louisville Bats.

8 Cincinnati Reds activated LHP Brandon Finnegan from the 10-day disabled list. 04/13/18 Pittsburgh Pirates selected the contract of RHP Richard Rodriguez from Indianapolis Indians. San Diego Padres optioned RHP Colten Brewer to El Paso Chihuahuas. Tampa Bay Rays designated RHP Ryan Weber for assignment. Los Angeles Angels optioned RHP Felix Pena to Salt Lake Bees. Los Angeles Angels activated LHP Andrew Heaney from the 10-day disabled list. Toronto Blue Jays sent CF Dalton Pompey on a rehab assignment to Dunedin Blue Jays. Cleveland Indians sent 3B Gio Urshela on a rehab assignment to Columbus Clippers. Minnesota Twins optioned LF Ryan LaMarre to Rochester Red Wings. Texas Rangers signed free agent RHP Yovani Gallardo to a minor league contract. Kansas City Royals optioned RHP Brandon Maurer to Omaha Storm Chasers. Kansas City Royals recalled RHP Kevin McCarthy from Omaha Storm Chasers. Houston Astros activated 1B Yuli Gurriel from the 10-day disabled list. Texas Rangers recalled 1B Ronald Guzman from Round Rock Express. Texas Rangers placed SS Elvis Andrus on the 10-day disabled list retroactive to April 12, Right elbow olecranon fracture. Miami Marlins selected the contract of LF J.B. Shuck from New Orleans Baby Cakes. Miami Marlins optioned CF Braxton Lee to New Orleans Baby Cakes. Miami Marlins transferred OF Garrett Cooper from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list. Right wrist contusion. Atlanta Braves sent RHP Chase Whitley on a rehab assignment to Gwinnett Stripers. Kansas City Royals signed free agent OF Tarik El-Abour to a minor league contract. New York Mets transferred C Travis d'arnaud from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list. Partial tear of ulnar collateral ligament New York Mets placed C Kevin Plawecki on the 10-day disabled list. Left hand fracture. New York Mets optioned RHP Jacob Rhame to Las Vegas 51s. New York Mets recalled CF Brandon Nimmo from Las Vegas 51s. New York Mets selected the contract of C Jose Lobaton from Las Vegas 51s. Toronto Blue Jays placed 3B Josh Donaldson on the 10-day disabled list retroactive to April 11, Right shoulder inflammation. Toronto Blue Jays recalled RF Teoscar Hernandez from Buffalo Bisons. Cincinnati Reds optioned RHP Tanner Rainey to Louisville Bats. Cincinnati Reds selected the contract of RHP Dylan Floro from Louisville Bats. Cincinnati Reds designated RHP Ariel Hernandez for assignment. Oakland Athletics sent C Josh Phegley on a rehab assignment to Nashville Sounds. Miami Marlins sent RHP Dan Straily on a rehab assignment to Jupiter Hammerheads. San Diego Padres recalled LHP Kyle McGrath from El Paso Chihuahuas. New York Yankees sent 2B Jace Peterson outright to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Pittsburgh Pirates optioned RHP Clay Holmes to Indianapolis Indians. Pittsburgh Pirates optioned LHP Josh Smoker to Indianapolis Indians. Baltimore Orioles recalled LHP Donnie Hart from Norfolk Tides. Washington Nationals signed free agent C Tuffy Gosewisch to a minor league contract. Pittsburgh Pirates recalled RHP Kyle Crick from Indianapolis Indians.