Seattle, WA
Ex-Seattle Mariners prospect called up by Reds for series finale
CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Reds placed first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand on the 10-day injured list Thursday with low back inflammation and recalled infielder Noelvi Marte from Triple-A Louisville ahead of their series finale against the Seattle Mariners.
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Marte, 23, is a former top prospect of the Mariners. He was traded to the Reds alongside shortstop Edwin Arroyo and pitchers Levi Stoudt and Andrew Moore in a blockbuster deal that sent starting pitcher Luis Castillo to Seattle prior to the 2022 trade deadline. Marte was Seattle’s top-ranked prospect at the time of the trade.
Marte debuted for Cincinnati in 2023 and hit .316 with an .822 OPS and three home runs over 35 games, but he was suspended for 80 games before the start of last season for violating the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment program. In 66 games during 2024, Marte hit .210 with a .549 OPS and four homers.
The former Mariners prospect was sent down to Triple-A ahead of Tuesday’s series opener before being recalled Thursday. He’s 1 for 6 in at the plate in three MLB games this season.
Marte was not in the Reds’ lineup for the series finale.
Encarnacion-Strand was 1 for 4 with a two-run double during Wednesday’s 5-3 Mariners win.
“We’ve been trying to manage it,” manager Terry Francona said of Encarnacion-Strand’s injury. “It wasn’t getting worse, but it wasn’t getting better. After what he went through last year, just seems like the right thing to do. Get him an epidural. Let it calm down.”
Encarnacion-Strand played in only 29 games last season because of a season-ending right wrist fracture after being hit by a pitch from Michael Lorenzen on April 27 at Texas.
He’s batting .158 this season with two homers and five RBIs in 18 games.
The Reds have options at first base. Jeimer Candelario started at first in Thursday’s series finale against the Mariners. Spencer Steer, who’s been limited to designated hitter duty with a shoulder issue, threw again on Thursday and is close to returning. Francona said utility man Santiago Espinal can also play first.
The Seattle Sports staff contributed to this report.
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Thanks to Carrie Brown for the westward view of our Saturday night sunset. The high today hit 68 at the airport – eight degrees above normal – but nowhere near the record for this date, which was 89 degrees back in 2016. The forecast suggests two more days of partly sunny, almost-70-degree weather, before the chance of rain returns.
CHICAGO (AP) — The struggling New York Mets placed former Seattle Mariners second baseman/designated hitter Jorge Polanco on the 10-day injured list on Saturday with a right wrist contusion.
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The move was made retroactive to Wednesday, a day after Polanco went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in a 2-1 loss at the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 32-year-old Polanco is batting .179 (10 for 56) with a homer and two RBIs in his first season with New York, which has lost nine straight.
“When doctors first took a look at him, it looked like he got hit by a pitch when he didn’t,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “In talking to him, it was just a couple of swings that he took that night. … He didn’t think much of it, but just got worse the following day.
“So you just got to let it calm down a little bit and then we’ll go from there. But we don’t have a timetable for how long this is going to last.”
Polanco, who signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Mets in December, also has been dealing with an ankle issue.
“He was trending in the right direction,” Mendoza said of the ankle injury. “It’s definitely going to help, obviously now with him being shut down. But the biggest thing now is that we’ve got to take care of that wrist.”
Polanco spent the previous two seasons with the Mariners, who acquired him in a February 2024 trade with the Minnesota Twins.
Polanco struggled during his first season with Seattle in 2024, hitting just .213 with 16 homers in 118 games while playing through a knee injury that didn’t become public knowledge until after the season.
But after the Mariners somewhat surprisingly brought him back for a one-year contract in 2025, Polanco rebounded to hit .265 with 26 homers and an .821 OPS in 138 games last season. He then added three homers during Seattle’s playoff run, along with a 15th-inning walkoff single in Game 5 of the American League Division Series that sent the Mariners to their first ALCS in 24 years.
Seattle Sports staff made additions to this post.
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