With friends and family in attendance at Oracle Park over the weekend, Turlock’s Cole Carrigg continued his strong rookie season for the rebuilding Colorado Rockies, who left San Francisco with a series win for the first time since 2018.
Carrigg did not start Friday’s series opener, but with the Rockies up 4-1, entered in the eighth inning as a defensive replacement in center field. The call to the bench by skipper Warren Schaeffer proved to be successful as Carrigg added to his highlight reel of acrobatic catches an inning later.
In the bottom of the ninth, with Colorado holding a 5-2 lead and a runner at second base with no outs, Giants rookie Bryce Eldridge blooped a ball to shallow center field. The speedy Carrigg covered 68 feet in 4.1 seconds and laid out for a diving catch. Rafael Devers, at second base, mistakenly thought the ball had hit the ground first, and was doubled up on the throw-in by Carrigg, extinguishing the Giants threat and ultimately leading to the victory.
Carrigg collected a base hit in Saturday's 7-1 loss to the Giants, but bounced back Sunday by reaching base three times in a 13-7 win. He began the day by working a walk in his first plate appearance in the first inning, and in the fifth grounded a double down the left field line to plate a run and give Colorado a 6-5 lead. With the game tied at seven in the sixth inning, Carrigg was plunked with the bases loaded, and the Rockies would lead the rest of the way.
Carrigg entered Monday’s series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field hitting .292 (54-for-185), the highest out of any qualifying rookie in the National League (min. 130 at-bats) and with 33 RBI and 35 runs scored. His 26 walks and four hit-by-pitches gave him a .371 on-base percentage through 57 games as a major leaguer.
Soderstrom’s season done
The Athletics announced Tuesday afternoon that Tyler Soderstrom will be undergoing season-ending surgery on his left hip. The surgery will take place on Friday.
It was determined that surgery was required after Soderstrom had a visit with a specialist Monday in Los Angeles.
Soderstrom had been placed on the 10-day injured list on Sunday with left hip impingement, an injury he has battled since June 28 in Anaheim when he was removed from a game against the Angels after diving for a ball in left field. Soderstrom was placed on the 10-day IL the next day, and returned to action on July 8.
Nevertheless, the hip issue was persistent over the last month, and had prompted A’s manager Mark Kotsay to limit Soderstrom’s play in the past seven days. He was out of the lineup for two games and was the designated hitter in another two games.
Despite laboring the bad hip, Soderstrom had strung together an 11-game hitting streak at the time of his sidelining. He became the first A's player with three hitting streaks of 10 or more games in a season since Jay Payton in 2006.
The 24-year-old’s season ends after 109 games in which he hit .245 with 97 hits, including 27 doubles, three triples and 19 home runs, with 56 RBI, 58 runs scored and 57 walks.
Morris activated from Triple-A IL
For the first time in over a month, Kade Morris is back in game action.
The 2020 Pitman High graduate and No. 14 prospect in the Athletics organization was activated off the Las Vegas Aviators injured list on Saturday after 35 days.
Morris promptly took the mound at Las Vegas Ballpark for a start against the Sacramento River Cats. In three innings of work, he gave up one run on three hits while striking out a pair.
Morris, 24, made his MLB debut with the A’s on June 6 in Houston. He was just the second Pride alumnus to appear in the big leagues. Morris made two more big league appearances out of the bullpen at Sutter Health Park against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 29 and Miami Marlins July 4 before being optioned back down to Triple-A and landing on the IL.
Cederlind released by D-Backs
Blake Cederlind’s comeback attempt is on hold indefinitely as he was released from his minor league contract by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug. 10.
The 2014 graduate of Turlock High School had been with Double-A Amarillo since early July after inking his minor league deal in April. In nine games with the Sod Poodles, Cederlind posted a 3.52 ERA with seven strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings. He was perfect in three save opportunities, his first saves since 2019 as a top prospect with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Cederlind made his MLB debut with Pittsburgh on Sept. 15, 2020, becoming the sixth former Bulldog to ever appear in the big leagues.
