Diamondbacks reinstate Taylor Clarke from family medical emergency list

The Arizona Diamondbacks reinstated right-handed reliever Taylor Clarke from the family medical emergency list Sunday morning ahead of their series finale against the Washington Nationals, the team announced.

In a corresponding move, the D-backs optioned lefty Philip Abner to Triple-A Reno following Saturday’s game.

In his first season back in Arizona, Clarke is on pace to have a career year. The righty has a team-leading 1.73 ERA across 26 innings with a 0.73 WHIP. Brandyn Garcia has the next-best ERA and has pitched half as many innings.

The D-backs’ 2015 third-round pick played three seasons in Arizona after making his MB debut (2019-2021) before spending the next three years in Kansas City (2022-2025) and returning to Arizona this season.

While Clarke came up to the big leagues as a starter primarily, he struggled his rookie year with a 5.31 ERA and since 2021, he’s come out of the bullpen for 227 of his 229 appearances.

Clarke set a career-high 3.25 ERA in 51 games last year with the Royals. The D-backs reliever is on pace to crush those numbers this season. He has 13 strikeouts on the year compared to five walks (one intentional) and one home run allowed.

The Diamondbacks called up Abner on Thursday and he pitched 1.1 innings on Friday. The southpaw allowed five hits, five runs and a walk to go with two strikeouts.

That was Abner’s second big league outing of the season after Arizona called him up in late April and he pitched 2.1 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers. Abner had one strikeout and allowed a hit, a walk and two runs in that outing.

The 24-year-old has had very limited time in the majors over the last two seasons after the D-backs drafted him in the sixth round of the 2023 draft. Abner sports an 11.05 ERA across his seven MLB games.

The Diamondbacks look to avoid a sweep against the Nationals in the series finale Sunday. Michael Soroka (7-3, 3.49 ERA) is set to start for Arizona against Washington right-hander Cade Cavalli (3-3, 3.62 ERA). The game will be streamed on Peacock and the NBC Sports network.

First pitch is at 12:15 p.m. and can be listened to on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.

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