Category: Major League Baseball (MLB)

The Cincinnati Reds activated Casey Legumina from the 15-day injured list Sunday and optioned fellow right-hander Kevin Herget to Triple-A Louisville.

Legumina, 25, had been sidelined since sustaining a right ankle contusion during a game against the Miami Marlins on May 13.

He was drilled in the ankle by a ball off the bat of Yuli Gurriel. Legumina was able to complete the play for an out before departing the game.

Legumina made his MLB debut on April 15 and is 1-0 with a 4.35 ERA in eight relief appearances this season.

Herget, 32, is 1-2 with one save and a 5.73 ERA in 13 relief appearances this season for Cincinnati.

–Field Level Media

The Philadelphia Phillies activated infielder Alec Bohm from the 10-day injured list Sunday.

Bohm, 26, was out with a left hamstring strain. He is batting .265 with six homers and 37 RBIs in 53 games.

Bohm has played in 39 games (32 starts) at first base and 20 games (17 starts) at third base this season.

The Phillies optioned infielder Drew Ellis to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to clear room on the 26-man roster.

Ellis, 27, batted .222 with two homers and three RBIs in eight games with the Phillies.

–Field Level Media

The Chicago White Sox put reliever Liam Hendriks on the 15-day injured list Sunday with right elbow inflammation.

Hendriks, 34, is 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA and one save in five appearances since being reinstated from the injured list on May 29.

The veteran right-hander began the season on the injured list while being treated for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He completed treatment on April 3 and announced he was cancer-free on April 20.

A three-time All-Star, Hendriks is 33-34 with a 3.82 ERA and 116 saves in 476 games (44 starts) with the Minnesota Twins (2011-13), Kansas City Royals (2014), Toronto Blue Jays (2014-15), Oakland A’s (2016-20) and White Sox.

Chicago recalled left-hander Tanner Banks from Triple-A Charlotte in a corresponding move.

Banks, 31, has a 3.38 ERA and no decisions in four appearances out of the White Sox bullpen this season.

–Field Level Media

In the first two games of the season between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, runs have been at a premium.

The two games have lasted a combined 5 hours, 57 minutes, and the teams have managed just nine runs at Yankee Stadium as the American League East rivals each look for a series win on Sunday night.

After the Red Sox opened the series with a 3-2 victory Friday thanks to solo homers by Rafael Devers and Enrique Hernandez, the Yankees eked out a 3-1 win on Saturday night with a similar formula. The Yankees finished with six hits and had three at-bats with runners in scoring position, but Gleyber Torres and Willie Calhoun hit solo homers to go along with a late RBI single by Kyle Higashioka.

The Yankees head into the series finale 3-3 since Aaron Judge injured his right big toe running into the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium to track down a fly ball. They have 10 runs in those three wins by getting just enough, including two homers from Calhoun in that span along with a homer from Billy McKinney.

“We talk about it starting in spring training,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s gonna take everyone. It’s gonna take more than you even think, and we need to be ready for that. To their credit, they’ve done a really nice job for us in helping us win games. Ultimately that’s what it’s about.”

Devers homered for the second straight game, but Boston is 6-13 in its past 19 games.

On Saturday, the Red Sox were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11. In the series, they are 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and 4-for-34 over the past four contests.

“We have traffic,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “We’re working the counts, but obviously we’re not scoring runs. We’re not finishing anything. The two-out hits, they’re always important in this game, and we just got to find ways to get it going.”

Right-hander Brayan Bello (3-4, 3.97 ERA) will look to end a personal three-game losing streak Sunday night. Since winning three straight starts from May 4-17, Bello is 0-3 with a respectable 3.18 ERA.

Bello has allowed three runs or less in his past eight outings. He last pitched Monday when he allowed three runs on six hits in six innings of a 4-1 loss to the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.

Bello lost both of his starts against the Yankees in 2022 He allowed three unearned runs in five innings of a 5-3 loss at Boston on Sept. 14 and allowed an earned run in six innings of a rain-shortened 2-0 loss in New York on Sept. 25.

Clarke Schmidt (2-6, 4.96), who is winless in his past three starts, will start for New York. Since getting the win May 19 in Cincinnati, the right-hander is 0-2 with a 2.16 ERA.

Schmidt last pitched in Tuesday’s 3-2 home loss to the Chicago White Sox when he allowed three runs and six hits in six innings. While Schmidt matched his longest career start, he also allowed a homer for the first time in five starts as Seby Zavala took him deep twice.

Schmidt is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in four career relief outings against the Red Sox.

–Field Level Media

Mike Trout is expected to be in the lineup Sunday as the Los Angeles Angels host the Seattle Mariners in the rubber match of their three-game series in Anaheim, Calif.

While that’s not exactly breaking news, Trout is 31 years old and playing in his 13th major league season. The three-time American League MVP and 10-time All-Star also hasn’t been able to avoid the injured list in recent years.

Last season Trout was limited to 119 games because of a back condition. He played in only 36 games in 2021 because of a calf strain, and 114 games in 2017 due to a torn thumb ligament.

No one is saying Trout is slowing just yet. His 14 home runs this season have him on a pace for 34 — which would put him at or over the 30-homer mark for the eighth time in his career — but his OPS sits at .827.

Trout finished under .900 only once during his previous 12 seasons, and that came in his rookie season of 2011 (.672), when he played in only 40 games. Trout’s career OPS is .994.

Trout says he is aware he has to pay more attention to his physical health the older he gets.

“I don’t know if there’s an age (to be in your) prime,” Trout said. “But I have a pretty good idea of how my body is, how my swing is, how to prepare myself, just going through everything. The more experience you get, the more you learn, but when you get a little older, you gotta start taking care of your body.”

Trout played in 157 games or more for four consecutive seasons from 2013-16.

“When you’re younger, you just come to the field and do your thing, go out there and play,” he said. “Now, it’s taking care of yourself and learning from that.”

On Sunday, right-hander Griffin Canning (4-2, 4.47 ERA) will be on the mound for the Angels for the 10th time this season. He is 1-1 with a 2.91 ERA in four career starts vs. Seattle.

Right-hander Logan Gilbert (4-3, 3.80) will make his 13th start of the season for the Mariners. He is 4-1 with a 3.51 ERA in six career starts against the Angels.

The Mariners are happy to have Andres Munoz back in the bullpen. He has struggled with injuries, although he looked healthy on Saturday, retiring all four batters he faced and striking out three of them in the Mariners’ 6-2 victory.

Munoz pitched in 64 games last season, and his 96 strikeouts in 65 innings led all American League relievers. But he needed offseason surgery on his right foot, then pitched in only four games at the start of the season before being sidelined with a strained shoulder.

Munoz missed two months and returned to a major league mound on Tuesday, throwing a scoreless inning and striking out two against the San Diego Padres. His strikeout victims on Saturday were Shohei Ohtani, Trout and Anthony Rendon.

Mariners manager Scott Servais, though, will err on the side of caution with Munoz.

“You won’t see him back-to-back days here for a little bit,” Servais said. “We’ve got other guys we’ll go to in the bullpen if we need to and take it from there.”

–Field Level Media

Two teams seeking to add some offensive fireworks to a series that’s so far been highlighted by a canceled drone show and a near-no-hitter are scheduled to complete a three-game set Sunday when the visiting Chicago Cubs go for a sweep of the San Francisco Giants.

Less than 24 hours after they were disappointed to learn that the club’s popular postgame drone light display was being postponed due to technical difficulties, Giants fans had to sit and watch their team get just one hit off Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks in a 4-0 defeat Saturday.

In 18 innings in the series so far, the clubs have totaled just 20 hits, 13 of which have been singles. The Cubs own the only two home runs, with Matt Mervis and Christopher Morel contributing solo shots to Hendricks’ gem Saturday.

The Cubs also got a quality start from Marcus Stroman and a key two-run, pinch-hit single from Nico Hoerner on Friday, two of the three elements Chicago manager David Ross believes his team will need to make a run at the National League playoffs after a slow start.

“To win games, we’re going to have to pitch, play defense, get some clutch hitting, which we haven’t had,” Ross said. “I think that’s indicative of our record.”

Right-hander Hayden Wesneski (2-2, 4.72 ERA) hasn’t helped — or been helped — much of late, either. The 25-year-old is winless in his past five starts, going 0-1 with a 4.26 ERA, with the Cubs having scored a total of 13 runs in those game — all losses.

Wesneski is coming off a 7-4 road loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday in which he allowed two earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.

He has faced the Giants just once previously in his two-year career, that coming in his second game last season, when he was charged with three runs in 3 2/3 innings in a 4-2 home loss. Thairo Estrada and Wilmer Flores homered off him in the Wrigley Field game.

For the second straight game, the Giants will start John Brebbia (2-0, 3.38), who tossed two scoreless innings as an opener on Saturday. He threw 19 pitches and struck out one.

The Giants caught a break when Jakob Junis and Sean Manaea were able to cover the final seven innings of Saturday’s loss. The rest of the bullpen, with the exception of the injured Scott Alexander, will be available in the series finale.

Brebbia will be throwing to either prized rookie Patrick Bailey or versatile Blake Sabol behind the plate. They’ve combined to go 0-for-8 so far in the series.

Manager Gabe Kapler said former top prospect Joey Bart, who completed an injury-rehab stint Friday and was assigned to Triple-A Sacramento, will be staying in the minors for now.

“We want him to be a good all-around baseball player,” Kapler said of Bart, who was hitting .231 in 26 games before suffering a strained right groin in mid-May.

“He’s been working toward that and made some significant strides that of course we appreciate,” Kapler added. “To be a good all-around major-leaguer — hitter, offensive player — you need to make consistent, solid contact and control the strike zone, and those are still areas that Joey’s working on. Not 100 -percent there yet.”

–Field Level Media

The San Diego Padres came to Denver looking for momentum, and they will leave for home with plenty of it if they complete a three-game sweep against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.

The Padres squeaked out a 3-2 win Saturday with a big hit by Fernando Tatis Jr. and stellar defense from Manny Machado, who made a sliding, bobbling catch in foul territory in the eighth inning.

San Diego will send left-hander Blake Snell (2-6, 4.06 ERA) to the mound on Sunday while the Rockies will counter with right-hander Dinelson Lamet (1-3, 12.42).

Snell will face the Rockies for the 11th time in his career; he is 3-2 with a 4.41 ERA in 10 starts against them, with half of those starts coming at Coors Field.

Snell hopes he can get the kind of run support the Padres received in Friday night’s 9-6 win. They hit five home runs, one by Gary Sanchez, who is the latest shrewd acquisition by San Diego.

The Padres have built their team through smart trades and free-agent signings to boast one of the more potent lineups in the National League. They acquired Tatis and Juan Soto with trades and signed Machado in 2019, and now the signing of Sanchez is looking pretty good, too.

San Diego picked him up on May 29, just four days after he was designated for assignment by the New York Mets. He has five home runs in 11 games for the Padres and came through with an RBI single on Saturday.

The 30-year-old catcher is showing he still has plenty to offer.

“A lot of times, you get a little confidence again and you do some things you’ve done in the past,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said of Sanchez. “He’s still a young man for what he does. Each and every game he has like this, you’ll see some of the potential he’s always had.”

If Sanchez is in the lineup on Sunday, he will face Lamet. The struggling pitcher will make his third start since moving into the rotation.

Lamet will make his fourth career appearance and first start against his former team. He has a 6.00 ERA without recording a decision in his previous three meetings with the Padres.

The Rockies are mired in another slump after losing their sixth straight game on Saturday. They have four losing streaks of four or more games this year, but one silver lining from the most recent setback is catcher Elias Diaz is fine after leaving the game.

Diaz took a foul ball off the mask in the eighth inning — the second straight game it has happened — but won’t miss time.

Manager Bud Black said Diaz passed the concussion protocols.

Colorado’s other bright spot was Nolan Jones hitting his third homer of the season. Jones was called up May 26 and has taken advantage of his opportunity while several players are on the injured list.

“Because of no C.J. Cron, no Kris Bryant, no Brendan Rodgers, there are opportunities coming for a lot of guys,” Black said. ” … It’s good to see a guy like Nolan take this opportunity and be a contributor.”

–Field Level Media

One of baseball’s most electric young pitchers will match up against one of the sport’s most venerable competitors when the Cincinnati Reds face the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

Hunter Greene, 23, will start for the Reds and Adam Wainwright, 41, will take the mound for the Cardinals in the finale of a three-game series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

The Cardinals won 7-4 in the opener Friday and the Reds answered with an 8-4 victory Saturday.

The hard-throwing Greene (1-4, 3.92 ERA) allowed just one run on two hits in 12 innings combined in his past two starts. He struck out 19 batters and walked five in those games while clicking with catcher Curt Casali.

“Definitely going on the right track,” Greene said. “Just continuing to stay locked in, stay present in the moment and never get satisfied. So I feel like I’ve done a good job with that. Players have been good behind me, I’ve loved throwing to Curt the last couple. It’s been good chemistry going back and forth.”

Casali has enjoyed sharing in Greene’s development.

“He’s a super impressive guy,” Casali said. “For being 23 years old and kind of getting jousted into the face-of-the-franchise type position. That’s a lot to handle for some people and I think he’s done a really nice job of that.”

Greene was in line to start on Monday, but he went through right hip stiffness that prompted the Reds to push his start back to this game. He is 0-2 with a 3.72 ERA in four career starts against the Cardinals.

Wainwright (2-1, 5.97) allowed three runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings in his most recent start on Monday, which the Cardinals ultimately lost 4-3 to the Texas Rangers.

“I’m just fitting in perfectly with this team right now, everyone is frustrated,” Wainwright said after that game. “I was frustrated out there on the mound and not executing like I wanted to. I tried to add a little something too and I just missed location big time. Every time I try to add, I lose balls up thigh (high) across the middle. I just dialed back a little bit and started trying to pitch.”

In each of his six starts, Wainwright has failed to complete six innings. After allowing four or more runs in his first four starts, he has allowed three in each of his past two.

Opponents are hitting .326 with an .898 on-base plus slugging percentage against him this season.

Wainwright won his earlier start against the Reds this season, but he allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings on May 23 at Cincinnati. He is 11-17 with a 5.53 ERA in 40 career games against the Reds, including 35 starts.

The Reds got outfielder T.J. Friedl back from a hamstring strain Saturday after he missed 10 games. “Especially after coming off IL, playing for [a] week, and then having to go back on it, this time around I’m get excited to get back out there,” Friedl said. “Everybody is playing well, having fun together.”

The Reds made room for him on the roster by putting outfielder Jake Fraley on the 10-day injured list with a right wrist contusion.

–Field Level Media

If his most recent outing is any indication of things to come, Chicago White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito could be starting to find his groove.

Giolito worked six innings without allowing a hit in his last start. He will look to build off that performance on Sunday when the White Sox host the Miami Marlins in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Giolito (5-4, 3.75 ERA) didn’t go the distance in that outing, getting pulled after six innings of Tuesday’s 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees. He walked three and struck out seven while improving to 3-1 over his past four starts.

“My stuff felt really good,” Giolito said. “Fastball felt very lively. Too many balls … they were working 2-2, 3-2 counts.

“They had a good, patient approach, which I unfortunately kind of played into a little bit. One takeaway from that is be more efficient, be more in the zone, attack the zone.”

A no-hit bid might be a tougher to come by on Sunday. Giolito, after all, will have to go against Miami second baseman Luis Arraez, who leads the majors with a .402 batting average.

Arraez is hitting an eye-popping .522 (24-for-46) with 10 RBIs and nine runs in his last 12 games.

Giolito has never faced the Marlins, who appeared to be headed for a second consecutive loss on Saturday before putting together a five-run rally in the ninth inning.

Chicago was three outs away from taking the first two games of the series, but Miami loaded the bases before recording an out in the ninth en route to a 5-1 win.

Despite escaping with the victory, the Marlins still were abysmal with runners in scoring position, going 1-for-16.

“I think it was a pretty frustrating day the first eight innings,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said. “Sandy (Alcantara) was throwing the ball so well, really good defense behind him.

“We had guys on base; we just couldn’t get that one big hit, and finally broke through in the ninth inning.”

Marlins left-hander Braxton Garrett (2-2, 4.47) will hope the offense doesn’t wait until the final inning to break through when he makes his 13th appearance (12th start) of the season on Sunday.

Garrett was roughed up in his last outing, surrendering four runs on six hits in five innings against the Kansas City Royals on Monday. He still earned the win, though, striking out six without issuing a walk.

Now in his fourth major league season, Garrett has yet to face the White Sox.

Chicago outfielder Luis Robert Jr. has been seeing the ball well over his last six games, going 8-for-23 (.348) with a homer and two RBIs.

Garrett and the Miami bullpen will attempt to limit Robert, and the bullpen got a boost last week when left-hander A.J. Puk was activated from the 15-day injured list.

In two appearances since coming back, Puk has struck out five over two scoreless innings.

–Field Level Media

The Oakland Athletics are in a rare position in their dreadful season.

They have only 16 wins, the fewest in the majors, but they are riding a four-game winning streak, and a victory Sunday over the host Milwaukee Brewers would give Oakland its first series sweep of the season.

After beating the Brewers 5-2 in the opener on Friday, the Athletics got a game-winning RBI single from Aledmys Diaz in a 2-1 victory in 10 innings on Saturday.

Oakland will send left-hander JP Sears (0-3, 4.20 ERA) to the mound in the finale against veteran right-hander Freddy Peralta (5-5, 4.55).

The Athletics’ last sweep was the final series of last season, vs. the Los Angeles Angels. Oakland finished 60-102.

But you have to go back to April 2021, when the A’s had a 13-game winning streak with nearly an entirely different roster, to match the feeling the 2023 club has now.

At least Oakland will ride a hot pitcher on Sunday.

Sears, one of the key prospects in the August 2022 trade that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the New York Yankees, has allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of his last five starts.

Unfortunately, Oakland has lost four of those, going back to May 14 when he allowed two earned runs to the Texas Rangers in a game the Athletics lost 11-3.

“This has been a great stretch,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay told reporters Saturday. “If you’ve been watching this club from April, it wasn’t great at all in any aspect of the game, whether it was pitching, defense, hitting, whatever.

“It’s nice to see these results happening for this group. We’ve worked really hard. Now you can kind of see the group coming together collectively. They believe in each other and form a culture that’s reflective of the performances of late.”

The A’s have won three of their last four series after winning just one of their first 17.

The Brewers’ big problem remains getting the bats going. Milwaukee is ranked in the bottom five in slugging, on-base percentage and OPS.

In 10 games this month, the Brewers have scored more than five runs in a game just twice.

“We haven’t been getting enough offense, and that’s going to get you beat,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said after Saturday’s game. “You’ve got to be able to deliver on it when you get your pitch.”

Rowdy Tellez leads the Brewers with 12 home runs, and the only other player in double digits in homers is Willy Adames with 10. Christian Yelich leads the Brewers in stolen bases with 16.

Peralta is 1-3 with a 6.57 ERA in his last five starts, but in the one no-decision in that bunch, he struck out nine over five innings in a 4-3 Brewers win over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.

Peralta has faced the Athletics only once in his career, and it came in relief. On July 30, 2019, he gave up a go-ahead home run to Khris Davis in a 3-2 Brewers’ loss in Oakland.

–Field Level Media