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HOUSTON — In the end, the “Michigan vs. Everybody” mantra that inspired the Wolverines all season long was quite fitting.

The Wolverines did indeed square off against everybody — from the NCAA to their own Big Ten conference to the No. 2 team in the nation Monday night on college football’s greatest stage. On and off the field, Michigan refused to let any opponent, any NCAA investigation or any of the six games its head coach was suspended for get in its way of winning a national title.

And Monday night, when it mattered the most, No. 1 Michigan did it again, beating No. 2 Washington 34-13 before an announced crowd of 72,808 at NRG Stadium to earn the school’s first national championship since 1997, when it shared the honor with Nebraska. The Wolverines asserted themselves from the opening kickoff and never trailed against the Huskies (14-1).

“I feel like this has been the perfect happy ending,” said running back Donovan Edwards, who averaged an astounding 17.3 yards per carry and finished with 103 yards and two touchdowns. “A lot of personal success, a lot of personal failures, but our ultimate goal was to win a national championship. … There’s no other feeling than to go through what we have and still come out on top. So perfect story, a lot of adversity — Coach Harbaugh’s not there for six games — perfect story.”

Michigan’s national title will always be entangled with what was the biggest story in college football this year: allegations of a widespread sign-stealing scheme allegedly led by former staff member Connor Stalions, who resigned Nov. 4. As polarizing as the program has been nationally, though, those within it have only been galvanized by the controversy and accusations.

“It fueled us,” Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham said. “Everything that we’ve been through, everything they tried to do to us, tried to discredit everything we did this season. Winning this game solidifies we’re that team. … Coach Harbaugh’s on the plane and he doesn’t even get to go to our game against Penn State. Our back’s been against the wall, but this team’s different.”

So is its head coach.

After the confetti had fallen, Harbaugh found his parents on the field and first wrapped his 84-yeard-old father — a spitting image of himself — in a bear hug, lifting him up off the ground. He turned to his mother and did the same, planting a kiss on her and saying, “We did it!”

“For me personally, I can now sit at the big person’s table in the family,” said Harbaugh, a former Michigan quarterback in his ninth season coaching his alma mater. “They won’t keep me over there on the little table anymore. My dad, Jack Harbaugh, won a national championship and my brother [John] won a Super Bowl. It’s good to be at the big person’s table from now on.”

In what was the first national championship game appearance for both teams, (Michigan’s ’97 shared title with Nebraska was won one year before the first BCS National Championship game) Michigan became the sixth team in major college football history to finish 15-0 or better in a season and set the Big Ten’s record for the most wins in a season.

The Wolverines did it the old-school way, with a relentless running game that racked up 303 yards, and a stifling defense that flustered Heisman runner-up quarterback Michael Penix Jr. into two interceptions.

Michigan jumped out to a 14-3 first-quarter lead, but Washington responded with a 3-yard touchdown from Penix to Jalen McMillan that sent the Huskies to the locker room trailing 17-10. That was the only touchdown, though, they would score.

“They’re a good team,” Penix said. “We just didn’t execute in the moments when we needed to. It’s just about executing. I don’t feel like they did anything — I feel like we beat ourselves.”

Michigan had all of the pieces in place for the perfect season — starting with a veteran quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, who wasn’t flashy, but won the turnover battle against Penix.

Michigan had the burly offensive line that won the battle up front and paved the way for a dynamic duo at running back in Blake Corum and Edwards. They each ran for over 100 yards and together accounted for four touchdowns. Corum, who missed last year’s CFP with a knee injury, was named the game’s Offensive MVP after totaling 134 yards and two touchdowns.

Michigan also had the stingy defense that flustered Penix all night, making it far more difficult for the Huskies to have success in the deep passing game — or any passing game at all. Penix completed 27 of 51 pass attempts (53%) for 255 yards and a touchdown.

“That was a spectacular game by our defense,” Harbaugh said.

This was arguably the most talented Michigan team in decades, one that built its success on not only a senior-laden roster, but also discipline, rarely racking up penalties and turnovers. It wasn’t, though, without its flaws.

There was the NCAA investigation into alleged recruiting violations during the 2020 season, and a separate NCAA investigation into a widespread sign-stealing scheme. There was also Harbaugh’s three-game suspension to open the season, and another three-game suspension to end the season — the latter was imposed by the Big Ten for violating the league’s sportsmanship policy by illegally going off-campus to steal signs.

Michigan’s motivation extended beyond that, though, going back to its Fiesta Bowl loss to TCU to end the 2022 season — the program’s second straight CFP semifinal loss.

“I’d say we came a long way, but in order to accomplish things like this, you’ve got to go to those dark places where everything’s not great,” McCarthy said. “And just the response, the urgency right after that last game last year, it was different. I knew it. Just from being on the podium last year and saying we would be back. I knew the guys that were coming back. I had this feeling that it was going to be where we are right now.”

With Harbaugh sidelined for the final three games of the regular season, offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore led the Wolverines to critical wins against Penn State, Maryland and Ohio State. When asked what the phrase “Michigan vs. Everybody” mean to him, Moore said, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.”

With Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti watching from a suite with Big Ten staff, Big Ten Network staff and guests, Michigan did what it has done all season in spite of the controversy — it outplayed its opponent.

Michigan averaged a whopping 19.3 yards per carry in the first quarter. The Wolverines won the battle up front and created confusion for Washington’s defense. Michigan had four plays of at least 35 yards, and the Huskies’ defense allowed 209 rushing yards in the first half — the most the program has allowed in a half since 2011.

Washington’s 17-3 deficit in the first quarter was its largest of the season.

With 10:27 remaining in the first half, Washington’s Rome Odunze, one of the top receivers in the country, was wide open and within scoring range when Penix overthrew him on a daring fourth-and-7 play the Huskies desperately needed to swing the momentum.

At one point in the fourth quarter, Penix had completed just 26.7% of his passes thrown at least 5 yards (4-of-15) and had thrown an interception. With 4:29 left in the game, he threw another one which Mike Sainristil ran back 81 yards to Washington’s 8-yard line. The play set up Corum’s second touchdown that put the Wolverines ahead 34-13.

It was the second time in the second half a touchdown by Corum provided some separation. With 7:09 left in the game, Corum ran 12 yards for a touchdown that put the Wolverines ahead 27-13. It was a Hollywood ending for Corum, who lead the FBS with 27 total touchdowns and is unlikely to return next season. He has had a rushing touchdown in 15 straight games, the longest streak by a Michigan player in the past 20 seasons.

“Coaches always say, playmakers make plays, and don’t wait on anyone else to make a play,” Corum said. “Today was a complete, complete team effort.”

McCarthy completed 10 of 18 passes because he didn’t have to be a hero in the air with so much success on the ground. As McCarthy left the locker room after the game to go to the postgame news conference, he exhaled.

“Oh man,” he said, “we did it.”

Against everybody.

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Making of a ‘Jeremonstar’: Jeremiyah Love shares his story through passion for comics

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Making of a 'Jeremonstar': Jeremiyah Love shares his story through passion for comics

SOMEWHERE IN THE bustling metropolis of St. Louis, a mother and father watch in awe as their young son shows signs of … superpowers!

Here is Jeremiyah Love, age 4, scaling walls and swinging from the rooftops.

Here he is, an eighth grader, leaping tall buildings in a single bound.

Then a teenager in full command of his powers, torpedoing around enemies and through brick walls.

Yet, all around him, dark forces gather.

If his life were a comic book, like the project he has spent the past four years creating with his father, Jason, and a team of artists, this would be Jeremiyah’s origin story, one not all too far from reality for Notre Dame‘s star running back. He swung from moldings on the 10-foot ceilings above his living room as a toddler, developed into an all-sport star who could dunk a basketball in eighth grade and became one of the nation’s top recruits by his junior year on the football field at Christian Brothers College High School.

As the story goes, Love entered the opening game of the season against powerhouse East St. Louis still bothered by nagging injuries from the track season, and his coach, Scott Pingel, had no plans to let him play. But the starter and the backup went down, so in Love went, and on his first touch, he ran a counter to the right side and sprinted 80 yards to the end zone.

“He made everyone else on the field look stupid,” Pingel said. “He’s making big-time D-I recruits look silly. That’s when everything really took off for Jeremiyah.”

But no origin story is complete without conflict, and if Love’s legend was burnished on the football field, he hardly fit the image of the all-powerful superhero away from it. He was isolated and introverted. When he felt uncomfortable, he retreated into those superhero stories — comics, graphic novels and, especially, anime. The worlds of heroes and villains and adventure made sense in a way his real life often didn’t.

“People thought that I was weird,” Love said. “I didn’t really have friends. I didn’t like to talk to people. I liked to play by myself. I just preferred it this way.”

For a while, those urges to isolate himself seemed like the villain in Love’s story, the thing that set him apart, the battle he had to fight. What he has come to understand as his legend has grown at Notre Dame and as he has grappled with how to tell his story on the pages of his own comic, is that those things that made him different were actually the source of his strength.

“That’s the whole point of the comic, of the message we’re trying to put out,” Jason Love said. “Sometimes kids like Jeremiyah are labeled, but he reverses all those things — all the doubters and cynics. That’s his superpower.”


JEREMIYAH WAS 6 when he played his first football game in a county rec pee wee league. He took a handoff, cut and ran for 80 yards. He was a natural.

He ran track, too, and he was always the fastest kid on the squad.

It was basketball that Jeremiyah loved most, though, and on the court, he stunk.

“He lacked the coordination and rhythm,” Jason said.

So at 7 years old, determined to get better, he told his father he wanted to work with a trainer.

As a young boy, Jeremiyah was “a little daredevil,” Jason said. Jeremiyah was curious and intelligent, but in school, he was a bundle of energy, frustrating teachers as he struggled to follow lessons. Jason spent hours trying to force his son to sit still. They’d perch on chairs at the dining room table, and Jeremiyah would have to sit with his hands clasped without moving for 10 seconds. If he got agitated, they’d start again. It was a daily struggle.

“We wrestled with Jeremiyah being different for a long time,” Jason said. “It was a constant battle of redirection and refocusing and trying to see what works to make things more manageable for him.”

Jeremiyah has never been officially diagnosed, but Jason said he often displayed signs of ADHD or obsessive-compulsive disorders, and as Jeremiyah got older, the battles became more intense. If Jeremiyah misbehaved, Jason, an Army veteran, tried to discipline his son by putting him into “muscle failure positions,” like holding a pushup as long as possible, Jason said.

“He’s so bull-headed, he’d do it for 20, 25 minutes,” Jason said.

Eventually, Jeremiyah’s arms would quiver and sweat would drip from his forehead and, knowing his son wouldn’t submit, Jason would relent.

Then, something clicked for Jeremiyah’s parents. Their son didn’t see these acts as punishment. He saw them as a challenge, and Jeremiyah relished the challenge.

It was the same as his struggles with basketball. Jeremiyah could’ve stuck to football and track, but he embraced basketball because it was hard. He worked with a trainer, he got better and, by eighth grade, he was dunking.

Once Jason and Jeremiyah’s mother, L’Tyona, understood their son’s triggers and motivations, there was a blueprint for how to manage his energy. In a challenge, Jeremiyah found focus, and with focus, he found success.

“If you challenge his competitive nature, he turns into a different creature,” Jason said. “He wants to dominate.”


JASON REMEMBERS SITTING in his kitchen one afternoon and hearing a voice from another room speaking Japanese.

Who was in the house?

He rushed into the living room, and he found Jeremiyah, sitting alone in front of the television. He was watching anime — a Japanese animation style — and interacting with the characters on screen.

Jeremiyah was 10 years old, watching with subtitles, and he had picked up enough of the language to provide his own running dialogue.

“I just fell in love with it,” Jeremiyah said. “I stumbled upon it on Netflix when I was about 6. As a kid, I liked cartoons, and anime looks like cartoons but it’s not. I kept watching more and more, and I got addicted.”

Jason had always been a fan of traditional American comics — X-Men, Superman, Batman — and he’d watched popular Japanese series like “Dragon Ball Z,” so when his son showed interest, he saw it as a way to bond.

Jeremiyah grew up in the Walnut Park neighborhood of northwest St. Louis. It was “very dangerous,” as Jason put it, and Jeremiyah remembers a soundtrack of gunshots and police sirens in his youth.

The danger outside swallowed up its share of kids Jeremiyah knew back then, he said, but he spent most of his time playing in his backyard or suiting up for sports or perched in front of shows such as “Naruto” and “Xiaolin Chronicles.”

“It was his whole realm,” Jason said. “He was watching shows I didn’t know anything about, but it was a passion of his. And anything Jeremiyah is focused on, he’s all-in.”

Jeremiyah had been talkative and outgoing in his youth, but the older he got, the more he withdrew.

In anime and comics, however, Jeremiyah found a world where he could transform into someone else — or, perhaps, simply be the person he knew he was but wasn’t yet ready to show the real world.

“It was his chance to be in a different place, a different world, where he can release all of his powers,” Jason said.

Growing up, Jeremiyah said he hadn’t considered how much he struggled. It was “a challenge to push through,” he said, but he loved a challenge. Only now, as he has revisited his story in creating his comic, has it occurred to him how big those hurdles had been.

“As a kid, when you’d be ostracized or excluded — it doesn’t feel great,” Jeremiyah said. “But I’m thankful I was that way. I never got into the wrong things, never hung out with the wrong people. The way I was protected me from that. My parents did, too. I’m thankful for how I was raised and who I was as a person. It just goes to show, don’t be afraid to be yourself, because that’s the best thing you can be.”


THE FIRST IDEA for the comic involved Jeremiyah morphing into an animal. Something big, bombastic and strong, Jason said. They sketched out the whole book with artists’ mock-ups and a complete plot. Jason had invested thousands of dollars into the project.

Jeremiyah thumbed through it and delivered a verdict: He hated it.

“He killed the first project,” Jason said. “That broke my heart. We had to start all over. But he tells you when he likes or dislikes stuff, and there’s no misunderstanding. But it showed me he was dedicated to this process.”

It was Jason’s idea to make the comic. He had pitched it to Jeremiyah during his junior season, when he was skyrocketing up the recruiting rankings and blossoming into one of the most explosive backs in the country. Back then, neither had any idea how to make a comic, but Jason figured it was a good opportunity to tell his son’s story in a way Jeremiyah would connect with.

Nearly five years later, Jason and Jeremiyah are finally ready to deliver. “Jeremonstar” will be released publicly in late September.

“This is not a cash grab,” Jeremiyah said. “It’s something I want people to like and enjoy. I want to tap into this fan base, and I want to connect with different people who are kind of like me.”

That first idea, though, was too childish. Jeremiyah scoffs at anyone who chalks anime up as a kids show. It’s fantasy, yes, but it’s so much deeper, he said. And him turning into an animal? All wrong.

So the Loves went back to the drawing board — a massive project that included world-building, story arcs and character development.

“We’ve been through a lot,” Jeremiyah said. “It is not easy to come up with a compelling superhero story.”

But this wasn’t simply a superhero story. It was Jeremiyah’s story. It had to be perfect, and that’s where the Loves kept running into problems. They’d hire an artist, a writer or an agency, and after a few months of work, they’d realize the whole output was perfunctory. Most artists they talked to saw dollar signs because of Love’s football prowess, but Love needed the story to be personal.

In December 2024, they met Chris Walker, and finally, they felt a connection.

“Chris was Yoda for us,” Jason said.

Walker had spent a decade working with Marvel and DC Comics, had worked as a creative director at an agency and had even helped design the cover for a graphic novel by rapper Ghostface Killah. He now runs his own creative agency, Limited Edition, and he had recently found some success partnering with the Chicago Bulls and MLB Network on sports-related properties. He was hoping to grow that market when he reached out to Notre Dame’s NIL collective, which connected him with the Loves.

When Walker met Jeremiyah, he was sold instantly.

“He’s talkative, but you have to sit down with him for a while to get to that,” Walker said. “I’ve had friends like him, who don’t like to be the center of attention. I thought, here’s the No. 1 running back in the country, and the moment I met him, it was like being around family.”

Walker liked the pitch of an anime-styled comic. He worked with Buffalo Bills linebacker Larry Ogunjobi, who told him how anime helped him learn discipline, and he had read an interview with New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson, who said 80% of the NBA were fans of anime. Clearly there was an untapped market.

The Loves also had a plan to grow their universe. Jeremiyah’s story would be the first volume in what they hoped could become a cultural touchpoint for athletes from all sports.

“Athletes aren’t telling their stories in a fun, interesting way that people are going to gravitate to,” Jeremiyah said. “We want to go far with this.”

Walker brought on industry veterans to help carry the project over the finish line, including an editor who worked with Marvel. The team worked with Jason, holding Zoom calls nearly daily to discuss the project’s next steps, and developed a timeline and marketing strategy for release.

At Notre Dame’s 2025 spring game, the group handed out bracelets with a QR code directing fans to a webpage promoting the comic. In the months since, Jeremiyah said he’s continually hearing from fans — through DMs and even kids at the barbershop — who want to know when it will be ready.

“People are going to read this and understand you can be more than a football player,” said Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman. “That’s a misconception that, if you want to be a great football player, all you can do is think about that sport. But it’s not true, and Jeremiyah is a perfect reflection of that.”

The summer retreat before Jeremiyah’s junior year in high school was held in a timeworn lodge with about 80 rooms owned by the Catholic Church. Pingel held the retreat each year as an opportunity for his team to bond before the season. This would be Jeremiyah’s first stay as a full-time member of the varsity squad, but Pingel had known him for years. Pingel’s son was a year younger than Jeremiyah, so he had seen Jeremiyah grow from a string-bean running back into a phenom.

On the first night of the retreat, Pingel had noticed a buzz among the players and heard music echoing through the hall. He meandered toward a crowd gathered around a piano, certain he’d find a handful of teammates clowning, but as Pingel edged his way to the front, he saw Jeremiyah.

“He was just tickling the ivories,” Pingel said. “And everyone’s around him singing.”

There are a lot of lessons Jason and Jeremiyah hope the comic conveys about perseverance and commitment, but because this is Jeremiyah’s story, the idea that no one needs to conform to an identity other than their own is key.

“There are tons of kids like me, and they feel down about who they are,” Jeremiyah said. “I want to communicate that it’s OK. There’s no problem with that. Be you, and big things can happen.”


JEREMIYAH STILL HAS his “quirks,” as Jason describes them. He insists on symmetry, like aligning his shoes just so, from left to right. He’s finicky about how his clothes fit. His belt buckle has to rest exactly right on the front of his pants. It’s habits that, years ago, might’ve frustrated Jason and L’Tyona. They see it differently now.

“We told him he’s the master of himself,” Jason said. “We told him he’s the greatest. And we just gave constant positive reinforcement.”

Pingel had always been struck by the contradiction of Jeremiyah Love, the football player, with the kid he’d gotten to know, reserved and occasionally distant, but curious and highly intelligent.

Jeremiyah is like a lot of comic-book heroes. By day, he shows one side of himself. Then he dons a uniform and becomes something else.

“The athlete needs to be an extrovert, going out there running over people and hurdling people,” Pingel said. “That’s kind of his alter ego.”

In the comic, Jeremiyah’s superpowers are derived from his real-life traits — speed and strength and willpower — but Pingel keeps thinking about that summer retreat when he truly understood Jeremiyah’s talent.

Football is where the alter ego can come out, where Jeremonstar is the effervescent star. But the real Jeremiyah is always in there, and, Pingel thinks, that’s the more interesting character.

Working together on the comic has been a cathartic experience, Jason said. For all the progress they have made with Jeremiyah over the years, Jason said he was never confident they’d have an overtly emotional bond. But like Pingel finding Jeremiyah at the piano, Jason keeps discovering new depths in his son.

“He’s come out of his shell now,” Jason said. “He’s more empathetic, more outgoing. I’ve learned a lot more and seen my son blossom into a young man.”

Jeremiyah burst into the national consciousness a year ago, accounting for more than 1,300 yards and 19 touchdowns, helping to lead Notre Dame to an appearance in the national championship game. By the time the Irish met Ohio State with a title on the line, however, Jeremiyah was nursing a knee injury. He managed just four carries for 3 yards in a 34-23 loss to the Buckeyes.

“I didn’t have all my superpowers,” he said. “I had the will, but sometimes, will isn’t enough.”

This offseason, Jeremiyah has worked to refine his superpowers. He better understands what it takes to stay healthy over the long haul. He’s trying to be less of a magician with the ball in his hands and focus more on his straight-line speed. But he insists he doesn’t have goals, just “things to work on,” nor is he haunted by last year’s disappointment.

“I just want to get to know myself better as a football player,” he said. “If that ends up us making it to the national championship again and winning it, great. If it doesn’t, that’s OK, too. I just want to make sure I’m the best me and the team is the best version of them.”

In high school, Pingel used to see his reluctant star endure autograph sessions, media appearances and countless conversations with recruiters, and he’d ask him: “Do you like being Jeremiyah Love?”

Pingel wanted to know if Jeremiyah was OK in the spotlight because it was never a role he relished, but it’s a question that might just as easily be asked in broader terms, too.

The answer, every time, was yes. Jeremiyah Love is completely happy being himself.

“He’s a warrior. He’s a fighter. He’s an introvert. He has his behavioral challenges, and he’s prevailed” Jason said. “Through hardship, you find yourself. And if you prevail, in my eyes, you’re a superhero.”

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Iamaleava: Only way is up after UCLA debut dud

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Iamaleava: Only way is up after UCLA debut dud

PASADENA, Calif. — By the time Nico Iamaleava stepped onto the field for his final drive of the night late in the fourth quarter of his much-anticipated debut as UCLA‘s quarterback, the Bruins were down 43-10 and the majority of the fans still left at the Rose Bowl were wearing red, chanting “Let’s go Utah!” as if the game were being held in Salt Lake City.

It was that kind of night for UCLA. The Bruins had come into the season with the promise of a new start, a new quarterback, a new offense and a reenergized culture in coach Deshaun Foster’s second season. Instead, they left their Week 1 matchup searching for answers, unable to avoid the reality of what had transpired.

“We got punched in the mouth,” Iamaleava said postgame.

After he transferred from Tennessee in the offseason in a surprising and controversial move, Iamaleava’s first snaps in blue and gold were not exactly what he or UCLA had in mind.

The 20-year-old quarterback struggled to engineer much success. Though he showed flashes of potential in a handful of pinpoint throws or scrambling runs, Iamaleava was pressured by Utah’s defense all night long and never found a rhythm. He finished with 11 completions on 22 pass attempts, 136 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception while adding a team-high 47 rushing yards.

“Nico is a competitor. He’s not going to quit. He kept playing hard,” Foster said. “We just gotta do a better job protecting him, keeping him upright.”

Iamaleava was sacked four times and pressured 10 times while the Bruins’ defense was far from helpful, allowing 493 total yards, a 14-of-16 conversion rate on third downs and four touchdown drives of nine plays or more. The Long Beach native, however, did not deflect the blame.

“I didn’t execute at a high level,” Iamaleava said. “I gotta be better. We all gotta be better.”

Earlier in the week, Iamaleava had said that up to 30 family members would be in attendance Saturday. While there may have been excitement about Iamaleava sparking a UCLA program in need of some buzz before the game began, it was quickly stifled by a Utah team that looked every bit the part of a Big 12 contender.

“We take this as a learning experience,” Iamaleava said. “We’re going to face many more tough opponents, and we gotta be ready.”

Foster said that even though little went right on the field Saturday, he was encouraged by the players’ attitude in the postgame locker room and their resolve to use the loss as a rock bottom they could rebound from. So did Iamaleava, who attempted to put his and UCLA’s sobering opener in perspective.

“Everything we want is still ahead of us. It’s Week 1,” he said. “Only way is up from here.”

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A’s Kurtz (oblique) day-to-day after ‘clean’ MRI

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A's Kurtz (oblique) day-to-day after 'clean' MRI

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Athletics rookie Nick Kurtz is day-to-day after experiencing right oblique soreness against the Texas Rangers on Friday, Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said Saturday.

Kurtz had an MRI that returned “clean,” Kotsay said. He was not in the lineup for the second game of a three-game series Saturday.

Kurtz began feeling discomfort after batting practice Friday. After drawing a walk, he was rounding third base and heading for home on Brent Rooker‘s double in the third inning when Kurtz apparently aggravated the soreness and slowed down. He crossed the plate to tie the score at 2-2 but immediately walked to the clubhouse with the team medical staff.

Kotsay said there is no strain in terms of muscle tissue, but Kurtz is dealing with pain tolerance. Kotsay did not say when Kurtz would return.

“We hope to get him back sooner than later,” Kotsay said.

Kurtz is hitting .308 with 23 doubles, 2 triples, 27 home runs, and 70 RBIs this season. He is one of just three players in the majors this season to hit four home runs in a game.

Kurtz is the first rookie in major league history to hit four homers in a game and matched the MLB record for total bases with 19 in a July 25 game against the Houston Astros. He also had a double, a single, and a total of six RBIs in that game.

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