ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
LOS ANGELES — Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendriks, who recently returned to the majors after undergoing treatment for cancer, has no structural damage to his right elbow and is hoping for a minimal stint on the injured list.
Hendriks received a cortisone shot Sunday, the same day he was placed on the 15-day IL with inflammation in his pitching elbow, and will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection at some point before the White Sox leave Los Angeles on Thursday night.
Hendriks, 34, had to get clearance from his oncologist in order to receive the shots because he is still in remission from stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which he was diagnosed with in December.
Hendriks has made five appearances since his return, allowing five baserunners and striking out three batters. However, his fastball was down into the mid-90s, about three ticks from his normal velocity.
He doesn’t believe the elbow inflammation is related to his unusually aggressive ramp-up to return.
“I think the potential of the chemo still being in my system and not kind of letting me recover as well as I would have hoped — I think that has some merit to it,” Hendriks said. “But honestly we won’t really know. It’s unfortunate the way it went about, but hopefully it’s a minimal stint on the IL and we can get back there as soon as I can.”
The pain in Hendriks’ right elbow dates back to early May, right before arriving in Gwinnett, Georgia, to join the organization’s Triple-A affiliate and begin a rehab assignment. He returned to Chicago a couple weeks later, and the pain in his elbow only worsened. Soon after he began pitching in major league games, the pain ratcheted up to a higher level.
“The last three outings,” Hendriks said, “it was constant pain every time I picked up a ball and threw it.”
Hendriks threw a scoreless ninth inning against the Miami Marlins on Friday, securing his second win of the season in the process. During the outing, though, he had to fight off attempts by White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal to visit him on the mound. After it was over, he couldn’t ball his right hand into a fist.
Hendriks has a history of playing through pain — and has spent the past 15 years pitching with a partial tear in his ulnar collateral ligament — but that development scared him enough to inform the White Sox that he was hurt.
After the cortisone shot, Hendriks was able to dry his face with his right hand for the first time in a while. It made him smile. So did learning that his damaged UCL actually looked a little better than it did around this time last year, when he missed close to a month with a flexor strain in his right forearm.
His timeline this year is “wait and see.”
“This year, it’s making sure I get everything handled as far as healthwise,” Hendriks said. “It’s making sure everything is taken care of in the right way. I need to be cognizant of the way my body reacts and feels with everything, just due to the fact I still don’t have the strongest immune system. There’s a lot of other things going on in my body.”
CHICAGO — Kyle Tucker had the fans on their feet, roaring and pumping their fists as he rounded the bases after hitting the go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning. His screaming line drive cleared the right-field wall with plenty of room to spare.
The Chicago Cubs went from giving up 10 runs in the eighth to scoring six in the bottom half and beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-11 on Friday in one of the wildest games on record.
The two teams combined for 21 runs in the seventh and eighth innings, with the Cubs scoring 11 runs and the D-backs plating 10. It was the first nine-inning game in MLB history in which both teams scored 10 or more runs from the seventh inning on, and the third game overall, according to ESPN Research.
“That’s kind of baseball,” Tucker said. “There’s a lot of ups and downs in this game, especially with how many games we play.”
There haven’t been many games like this, though.
The Cubs are just the seventh team in at least the past 125 seasons to allow 10 or more runs in an inning and win. They are also the fifth team to give up 10 or more runs and score six or more in the same inning.
The 16 combined runs in the eighth were the most in an inning at Wrigley Field, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“If you’ve seen that one, you’ve been around for a while,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said with a laugh. “It was crazy. You know, we gave up 10 runs in an inning and we won. So it was a wild game, but we kept going, and, you know, there’s 27 outs in a game and this kind of proves it, and you’re just happy to get out with a win.”
On a warm day with the ball carrying, Carson Kelly homered twice. Ian Happ belted a grand slam and Seiya Suzuki went deep, helping the Cubs open a weekend series on a winning note.
“You’ve seen it early — having some tough losses, coming back winning the next day,” Happ said. “Losing the first game of the series, winning the series. Little things like that. Today’s a great example of professional hitters going out there and continuing to have really good at-bats.”
The way things transpired in the final two innings was something to see.
Kelly hit a two-run homer in the second against Corbin Burnes, and Happ came through with his grand slam against Ryne Nelson as part of a five-run seventh. But just when it looked as if the Cubs were in control with a 7-1 lead, things took a wild turn in the eighth.
The crowd of more than 39,000 let the Cubs hear it, but their team regrouped in the bottom half. Bryce Jarvis hit Nico Hoerner leading off and walked Pete Crow-Armstrong before Kelly drove a three-run homer to center. Tucker, the Cubs’ prized offseason addition, came through after Happ singled with one out. Suzuki followed with his drive against Joe Mantiply to give the Cubs a 13-11 lead.
Arizona, which had won five straight, became just the third team over the past 50 seasons to lose a game in which it had a 10-run inning at any point, according to ESPN Research.
“You just got to stay locked in,” Kelly said. “Obviously, you don’t want to … give up 10 in an inning. Obviously, you don’t want to do that. I think the biggest thing is coming back, regrouping and continuing to fight.”
Major League Baseball suspended New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. for one game and fined him an undisclosed amount, the result of his actions during Thursday night’s win against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Chisholm was ejected in the seventh inning by plate umpire John Bacon for arguing after a called third strike on a full-count pitch from Mason Montgomery that appeared low.
Minutes later, he posted on his X account, “Not even f—ing close!!!!!” then deleted the post.
“I didn’t think before I had anything that I said was ejectable but after probably,” Chisholm said after the game. “I’m a competitor, so when I go out there and I feel like I’m right and you’re saying something to me that I think doesn’t make sense, I’m going to get fired up and be upset.
“I lost my emotions. I lost my cool. I got to be better than that. … I’m definitely mad at myself for losing my cool.”
Michael Hill, the league’s senior vice president for on-field operations, said Friday’s discipline was for Chisholm’s “conduct, including his violation of Major League Baseball’s Social Media Policy for Major League Players.”
MLB regulations ban the use of electronic devices during games. The social media policy prohibits “displaying or transmitting content that questions the impartiality of or otherwise denigrates a major league umpire.”
Chisholm did appeal the decision, allowing him to play in Friday night’s 1-0 win against the Rays. He started at second base and went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Manager Dave Roberts said before the Dodgers’ series opener Friday night against the Rangers that Ohtani was with his wife and going on MLB’s paternity list.
“He and Mamiko are expecting at some point. That’s all I know,” Roberts said. “I don’t know when he’s going to come back and I don’t know when they’re going to have the baby, but obviously they’re together in anticipation.”
The 30-year-old Ohtani posted on his Instagram account in late December that he and his 28-year-old wife, a former professional basketball player from his native Japan, were expecting a baby in 2025.
“Can’t wait for the little rookie to join our family soon!” said the Dec. 28 post that included a photo showing the couple’s beloved dog, Decoy, as well as a pink ruffled onesie along with baby shoes and a sonogram that was covered by a baby emoji.
Ohtani can miss up to three games while on paternity leave. The Dodgers have a three-game series in Texas before an off day Monday, then play the Cubs in Chicago on Tuesday.