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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Anthony Rendon, speaking publicly for the first time in two months, revealed Friday that he has been diagnosed with a fractured tibia by doctors outside the purview of the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels have consistently described Rendon’s injury as a deep bone bruise.

Asked why the Angels didn’t initially announce his injury as a fractured tibia, Rendon said, “You got to ask them.”

Angels general manager Perry Minasian didn’t respond to a request for comment. A source close to the team told ESPN that Rendon initially saw four doctors — two chosen by the Angels, two chosen by Rendon’s side — that diagnosed him with a deep bone bruise. A fifth doctor diagnosed him with the fractured tibia. Rendon, who didn’t provide details on the process, said the fracture diagnosis occurred while the team visited his hometown to play the Houston Astros during the second week of August.

Rendon’s agent, Scott Boras, said Rendon’s doctors and the Angels’ medical staff have nonetheless been “in line” with his treatment plan, denying that there is a disconnect between the two sides.

“We talked about when he did it, how bad the bone bruise was, that it’s similar to even what a fracture is,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “Bone bruise, fracture, either way, he’s unable to play right now, and we’re trying to get him back to where he is.”

Rendon, 33, initially suffered the injury while fouling a ball off his lower left leg in San Diego on July 4 and has only started to take part in light baseball activities in recent weeks, hitting off a tee and doing some light running exercises. If Rendon doesn’t return before the end of the regular season — a long shot, given that the Angels’ final game is two and a half weeks away — he will have played in 148 of a possible 486 games from 2021 to 2023, previously going on the injured list with issues in his hip, groin, hamstring, knee and both wrists.

Rendon is still owed another $114 million over the next three years. Asked if he plans on playing next season, Rendon was non-committal, merely saying that he is taking it day by day. Asked why he didn’t speak out sooner in order to combat public perception from fans who question his desire to play, Rendon said: “I don’t care. They don’t know the facts.”

A source within the medical field told ESPN that the treatment plan and the return to play is similar for a deep bone bruise and a fractured tibia, though the timelines within Major League Baseball have varied. Andre Ethier suffered a fractured tibia while with the Los Angeles Dodgers in March 2016 and missed nearly six months; Tommy La Stella had a fractured tibia with the Angels in July 2019 and missed nearly two months.

Nevin said he isn’t concerned about how the diagnosis might impact Rendon’s offseason or his availability for next year.

“I don’t look at it that way,” Nevin said. “He’s ramped up everything he’s done in there. The treatment for the bone bruise, under my understanding — bone bruise, fracture, to the degree that it is, all treated the same and the rehab is all the same. It’s not a bone that’s coming out of the skin. It’s something that is manageable under his pain tolerance. Obviously it’s a painful thing; I’ve said that all along. This is an extremely painful deal for him. But he’s gotten past, at least, that point, and he’s able to do some things on the treadmill and on the bike, he’s doing some baseball activities. The encouraging part is he’s feeling a lot better. Either one, whatever it is, it was going to be treated the same either way.”

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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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