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Michigan star running back Blake Corum will miss spring practice, which began this week, but is on track to return at full strength in June, coach Jim Harbaugh said Thursday.

Corum was a Heisman Trophy contender before injuring his left knee Nov. 19 against Illinois. He played briefly the following week against Ohio State before electing to undergo surgery. After rushing for 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns last fall, Corum decided to return for his fourth season at Michigan, which is coming off of consecutive Big Ten titles and College Football Playoff appearances.

“He’ll get a full summer cycle,” Harbaugh said of Corum.

Offensive linemen Myles Hinton and Drake Nugent, both transfers from Stanford, will be limited this spring after offseason surgeries.

Since losing to TCU in the CFP semifinal round, Michigan has endured some turbulence, including the firing of co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss amid a university investigation, and an ongoing NCAA probe of Harbaugh for alleged violations during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period.

Michigan fired Weiss for cause Jan. 20 after saying it obtained evidence that he had inappropriately accessed computers at Schembechler Hall, the school’s on-campus football facility. Harbaugh promoted co-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore to offensive coordinator and elevated analyst Kirk Campbell to fill Weiss’ other role as quarterbacks coach.

The NCAA investigation continues and includes an allegation of a Level I violation by Harbaugh for allegedly not complying with or misleading the organization’s investigators. Harbaugh could face a multigame suspension.

“Compare us to perfect and we’re going to come up short,” Harbaugh said of the atmosphere within the program. “Compare us to any program, it doesn’t get any better.”

Harbaugh said several Michigan coaches and staff, including himself, received interest from NFL teams but elected to remain with the program. Harbaugh, who went 44-19-1 as San Francisco 49ers coach before coming to Michigan, had a Zoom interview with the Denver Broncos about their coaching vacancy in January but announced soon after that he would stay at Michigan.

He also had interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings for their vacancy in February 2022. Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who spent 2017 to 2020 on the Baltimore Ravens staff under Harbaugh’s brother, John, is reportedly a candidate for the Philadelphia Eagles coordinator job.

“It’s an ongoing thing, something we treat as a really positive thing that NFL teams have an interest in all our personnel,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh also addressed his relationship with athletic director Warde Manuel, calling it “great” and dismissing the narrative that things have soured amid the investigations and his NFL discussions. Manuel took over as AD in 2016 and inherited Harbaugh as coach, but also was a teammate of his at Michigan in 1986.

On the field, defensive back Amorion Walker, a converted wide receiver, has impressed Harbaugh through the first two practices of the spring session. Walker was an ESPN four-star recruit in 2022.

“I consider him a starter right now,” Harbaugh said.

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Springer’s 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

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Springer's 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.

The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.

Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.

Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.

Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.

New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

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Astros’ Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

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Astros' Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.

He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.

“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”

Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.

The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.

“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”

Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.

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Ohtani’s 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

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Ohtani's 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.

Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).

As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).

During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.

Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.

Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.

Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

White Sox rookie Shane Smith (3-6) got two quick outs in the first before walking Will Smith and Max Muncy back-to-back. Teoscar Hernández followed with an RBI single, Andy Pages hit a run-scoring double and Michael Conforto had a two-run single.

Chicago’s lone run came on Lenyn Sosa‘s RBI single in the third.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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