Guardians' Parker Messick set for big-league debut vs. D-backs

Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick will make his major league debut in the heat of a playoff race.

The Guardians announced they will promote Messick, their second-round pick in the 2022 draft, to start the final game of a three-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix.

The D-backs will send right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (12-8, 5.08 ERA) to the mound in the decisive game of the series after a 6-5 Arizona victory on Tuesday. The Guardians left the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth innings, and the Diamondbacks turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead.

"We had a lot of weak contact tonight, but that's a testament to their pitching," Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. "They did a great job getting in on us. We had our opportunities."

Messick, 24, will look to create his own weak contact after going 5-6 with a 3.47 ERA in 20 games, all starts, for Triple-A Columbus. He amassed 119 strikeouts and 42 walks in 98 2/3 innings.

His best pitch is a low-80s changeup, according to scouting reports, and he will hit the big leagues on a roll. He has a 2.93 ERA and an 0.88 WHIP in his last five starts over 30 2/3 innings with the Clippers.

Messick joins a Cleveland club that is three games out of the final American League wild-card slot.

His Wednesday opponent is featuring a revamped top of the lineup.

Arizona's Geraldo Perdomo, Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll have hit 1-2-3 in the order in seven of the past eight games. They are batting a combined .323 with six doubles, three triples, four homers, 14 RBIs and nine stolen bases in that stretch.

Carroll, who has 27 homers, had his fourth two-triple game of the season Tuesday to give him a career- and major league-high 16 triples. He is the sixth player in the modern era (since 1901) with four two-triple games in the same season, the first since Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford in 2004.

Carroll hit either first or second in each of his starts this season before the lineup shift was made last week.

"I like it a lot," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said of the revised order. "It's new for Corbin, I get that. But Corbin is full of slug. He can impact the game from any position at any time. With the way 'Gerry' (Perdomo) gets on base and the way Marte is able to hit the baseball, I feel that he's going to be able to slug with guys on and help us score some runs.

"So far so good. I'll probably stay with it for some time here. I've learned how to make lineup adjustments and not be so stubborn with one lineup. I'll just continue to read and react."

Pfaadt set a career high in victories in a 13-6 win over Colorado on Aug. 10 but had a two-game winning streak broken when he gave up four runs in six innings in a 4-3 loss to the Rockies during a rematch in Denver on Friday.

"We stayed in the game and ultimately gave our team a chance to win the game," Pfaadt said. "Just didn't come out on top."

Pfaadt is tied for third in the National League in victories, but his ERA ranked 23rd among the 27 qualifiers. He has given up 151 hits, fourth most in the league.

Pfaadt won his only career start against the Guardians. He gave up four hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings of a 7-3 victory in the first game of a doubleheader in Cleveland on Aug. 7, 2024.

--Field Level Media