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The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde on Saturday, hoping a new leader can spark a turnaround of the most disappointing team in Major League Baseball.

Hyde, who had managed the Orioles through the end of their rebuild and helped lead them to the past two postseasons, oversaw an underwhelming start in which Baltimore went 15-28 and find itself 10½ games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the American League East.

Third-base coach Tony Mansolino will take over as interim manager, according to the team, which also fired field coordinator Tim Cossins.

“As the head of baseball operations, the poor start to our season is ultimately my responsibility,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said in a statement. “Part of that responsibility is pursuing difficult changes in order to set a different course for the future. I want to thank Brandon for his hard work, dedication and passion all these years, and for returning the team to the playoffs and winning an AL East championship. His many positive contributions to this organization and to Baltimore will remain, and we wish he and his family the best.”

With an underperforming offense, one of baseball’s worst pitching staffs and middling defense, the Orioles have regressed in every facet of the game this season. Hyde, 51, entered the season with questions about his long-term future after Baltimore was swept out of a wild-card series against Kansas City last year. In 2023, following a season in which they won an AL-best 101 games, the Orioles were swept by the Texas Rangers in the division series.

Elias gave Hyde a vote of confidence in early May, only to see Baltimore lose 10 of its next 13 games, including the past four. Beyond shortstop Gunnar Henderson, center fielder Cedric Mullins and first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, the Orioles have received limited offensive help, and injuries to infielder Jordan Westburg and outfielder Colton Cowser tested their lineup.

The pitching in particular has been disastrous. With a thin rotation and injuries to right-handers Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Eflin, the Orioles sport a 5.33 ERA, the worst in the AL and third worst in MLB. Following the loss of ace Corbin Burnes via free agency to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Orioles did not sufficiently backfill their rotation, even as they guaranteed more than $100 million in free agency.

Baltimore entered the offseason with more money to spend under new owner David Rubenstein but have received limited return for it. Outfielder Tyler O’Neill, who received a three-year, $49.5 million deal, is hitting .188/.280/.325. Charlie Morton, who got $15 million for one year, is 0-7 with an 8.35 ERA. Catcher Gary Sanchez (one year, $8.5 million) has spent the past three weeks on the injured list, where reliever Andrew Kittredge (one year, $10 million) has been the entire season. Only right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, who signed for one year and $13 million, has been productive.

“As is sometimes the case in baseball, change becomes necessary,” Rubenstein said, “and we believe this is one of those moments.”

Hyde was hired in 2019, when the Orioles were in the second year of a teardown that saw them lose at least 108 games in three consecutive full seasons. The arrival of catcher Adley Rutschman and Henderson in 2022 turned around Baltimore’s fortunes. Their 101-win season, along with a promising core of position players, portended a bright future.

Baltimore stalled out in 2024, winning 91 games, and lost Burnes and slugger Anthony Santander to division rival Toronto. Although top prospect Jackson Holliday has shown signs of developing into a solid every-day regular, outfielder Heston Kjerstad and third baseman Coby Mayo have yet to find their big league footing.

Mansolino, 42, managed at four levels of the minor leagues before joining Cleveland‘s coaching staff in 2019. The Orioles hired him as third-base coach before the 2021 season.

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Cardinals’ Contreras gets 6-game ban for tirade

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Cardinals' Contreras gets 6-game ban for tirade

ST. LOUIS — First baseman Willson Contreras has been suspended for six games and fined an undisclosed amount for his tirade during the St. Louis Cardinals‘ 7-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

Contreras has informed Major League Baseball he will appeal the suspension, which means it will not take effect immediately. He was in the lineup for Tuesday night’s game against the Pirates.

Contreras threw a bat that mistakenly hit Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown and tossed bubble gum on the field after he was ejected. Manager Oliver Marmol also was tossed during an animated argument with the umpires after a called third strike in the seventh inning.

Contreras said he didn’t understand why he was thrown out of the game. He said he argued balls and strikes with plate umpire Derek Thomas but didn’t address a specific pitch and didn’t say anything disrespectful.

“Apparently, he heard something [he thought] I said. I did not say that,” Contreras said.

Crew chief Jordan Baker told a pool reporter that Contreras and Marmol were ejected for “saying vulgar stuff” to Thomas. Baker also said Contreras made contact with the plate umpire.

After Monday’s win, Marmol agreed with his player.

“We’ll have to dive into it to make sure what Willson’s saying is what happened,” he said at the time. “But I believe him.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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AL Cy Young contender Eovaldi likely done for ’25

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AL Cy Young contender Eovaldi likely done for '25

ARLINGTON, Texas — Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi is likely done for the season because of a rotator cuff strain, another huge blow to the Texas Rangers and their hopes of making a late push for a playoff spot.

Eovaldi, who is 11-3 with a career-best 1.73 ERA in 22 starts but just short of the innings needed to qualify as the MLB leader, was among the favorites for the American League Cy Young Award.

He said Tuesday that he had an MRI after shutting down a bullpen session between starts because of continued soreness. The 35-year-old pitcher said he was more sore than normal but was surprised by those results since he hasn’t had any shoulder issues in his 14 MLB seasons.

“It just felt like it was getting a little worse, so I shut it down and had the trainers look at it,” Eovaldi said. “Obviously, it’s just frustrating given how great the season’s been going. … I don’t want to rule out the rest of the season, but it’s not looking very great.”

Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said Eovaldi likely will be put on the 15-day injured list Wednesday. He was supposed to start against the Los Angeles Angels in another opportunity to become MLB’s qualified ERA leader.

After allowing one run in seven innings against the Cleveland Guardians in his last start Friday, Eovaldi was the official ERA leader for one night. That put him at 130 innings in 130 Rangers games, and ahead of All-Star starters Paul Skenes (2.07) and Tarik Skubal (2.28) until Texas played the following day — pitchers need to average one inning per team game to qualify.

Entering Tuesday, Eovaldi was tied for third among AL Cy Young favorites with 30-1 odds at ESPN BET.

“Obviously it’s a big blow. He’s been just a tremendous teammate and competitor for us all year long,” Young said. “Hate to see this happen to somebody who’s been so important to the organization. But it seems par for the course with how some of the season has gone. So hate it for Evo, hate it for the team.”

With 29 games remaining going into Tuesday night, the Rangers were 5½ games back of Seattle for the American League’s last wild-card spot. The Mariners and Kansas City both hold tiebreakers over Texas.

The Rangers lost center fielder Evan Carter because of a right wrist fracture when he was hit by a pitch in Kansas City on Thursday. In that same game, durable second baseman Marcus Semien fouled a pitch off the top of his left foot, sending him to the IL for only the second time in his 13 MLB seasons. First baseman Jake Burger (left wrist sprain) also went on the IL during that road trip.

Semien and Eovaldi could potentially return if the Rangers make the playoffs and go on a deep run since neither is expected to need surgery. Semien’s recovery timeline is four to six weeks, and Eovaldi said he would get another MRI in about four weeks. Just under five weeks remain until the regular-season finale Sept. 28 at Cleveland.

Eovaldi has been one of baseball’s best pitchers all season, and part of the Rangers’ MLB-leading 3.43 ERA as a staff. He was left off the American League All-Star team and hasn’t been among qualified leaders after missing most of June with elbow inflammation, but Texas still gave him a $100,000 All-Star bonus that is in his contract.

This is Eovaldi’s third consecutive season with at least 11 wins since joining his home state team, and last December he signed a new $75 million, three-year contract through 2027. The 35-year-old Eovaldi and Hall of Fame strikeout king Nolan Ryan are the only big league players from Alvin, Texas.

Eovaldi has a 102-84 career record and 3.84 ERA over 14 big league seasons with six teams and has won World Series championships with Boston in 2018 and Texas in 2023. He made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers (2011-12) and later pitched for Miami (2012-14), the New York Yankees (2015-16), Tampa Bay (2018) and Boston (2018-22).

“I take a lot of pride in being able to go every five days,” Eovaldi said. “To have the outcome that we have now, it’s very tough for me. And you always feel like there’s some way to be able to prevent an injury from happening. And, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Mets rush ‘dominating’ prospect Tong into rotation

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Mets rush 'dominating' prospect Tong into rotation

NEW YORK — The Mets are calling up top-tier pitching prospect Jonah Tong, manager Carlos Mendoza announced Tuesday, as the club continues to bolster its staff with young talent for the stretch run.

Mendoza said Tong will start against the Miami Marlins on Friday in his major league debut.

Tong pitched himself into the big league picture with arguably the best season for a pitcher in the minor leagues, going 10-5 with a 1.43 ERA in 113 ⅔ innings across 22 starts between Double-A and Triple-A this season. The 22-year-old right-hander was recently promoted to Triple-A Syracuse, where he tossed 11 ⅔ scoreless innings over two outings.

“I think it’s all about dominating the minors,” Mendoza said. “It’s hard to keep him there.”

The consistent dominance, in combination with debilitating underperformance from veterans in the Mets’ starting rotation, prompted president of baseball operations David Stearns, who preaches patience in player development, to make the call.

Tong was the No. 21 prospect in baseball in the latest rankings by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. The Canadian will join Nolan McLean, the team’s No. 2 prospect who soared through the upper minors and was called up to boost the Mets’ struggling rotation earlier this month.

“This is fast,” Stearns said. “There’s no question this is fast. He’s pushed us on this because of his performance. We think he’s ready for this. We also acknowledge that this has gone faster than any of us would have anticipated at the start of this year.”

The decision to summon Tong came one day after veteran right-hander Kodai Senga continued his recent struggles, logging just four innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on four days’ rest.

Senga has a 5.40 ERA and has not completed six innings in eight starts since coming off the injured list last month. Mendoza indicated the team prefers to give Senga an extra day of rest moving forward.

“I’m going to be honest: Performance matters,” Mendoza said about Senga. “We’re to a point now where we got to see performance. And that was a conversation with him. We need him because he’s an ace. We’ve seen it in the past, but we haven’t been able to get that consistency. So, yeah, maybe it’s the regular rest, the extra day, whatever that is. We’re getting to a point where like every game, we got to put our best guys out there.”

Entering Tuesday, the Mets are 2 ½ games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the final National League wild card spot.

The baby-faced Tong, a seventh-round pick out of high school in 2022, made a significant leap forward in his development in 2024, but he reported to spring training this year seemingly on a path for a 2026 major league debut — as evidenced by the Mets’ decision not to invite him to big league camp.

Mendoza said he met Tong while watching a minor league game on a back field in which Tong was the ball boy.

“When you’re in the minor leagues, you got to go through those duties,” Mendoza said. “And that day, he happened to be on the Triple-A bench, and he was the ball boy and I sat right next to him, and I had a brief conversation. Kind of introduced myself [to] kind of get to know him.

“Genuine, humble and you could just see the youth on his face. It was, I don’t know, 10 minutes that we sat there and watched the game while I was trying to get to know him a little bit.”

Tong, who represented the Mets at the Futures Game last month, leads all 196 qualified minor league pitchers in ERA, FIP (1.66), batting average against (.148) and strikeout rate (40.5%) this season. His 0.92 WHIP ranks second. He has compiled 179 strikeouts and allowed just two home runs.

He boasts a fastball in the mid-90s that touches 97 mph and has produced a whiff rate of 36.5% this season. This year, he added a changeup in the mid-80s that has emerged as his second-most used offering and improved his effectiveness against left-handed hitters. A curveball and slider complete his repertoire.

Slight for a pitcher — he’s listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds — with a smooth and deceptive over-the-top delivery, Tong has drawn comparisons to former Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum.

“What’s impressed us the most is the speed with which he’s expanded his arsenal in really effective ways,” Stearns said. “So, he’s added a changeup this year that’s been really good. And we’ve seen outings that have shown, I think, tremendous maturity on the mound — where something’s not working, he’s then able to switch an approach and go to the slider more, throw a few more curveballs, and allow himself to get through outings really successfully, even if he’s not following the exact plan that he thought he was going to follow when he went into the game.”

The Mets chose promoting Tong over Brandon Sproat, another highly regarded pitching prospect in Triple-A. Stearns explained the organization’s decision as a product of Tong’s excellence and the timing of the start, which will keep Tong, who last pitched on Saturday, on turn.

Sproat, 24, gave up seven runs across 3 ⅔ innings out of the bullpen for Syracuse on Saturday after recording a 2.05 ERA over his previous nine outings, all starts.

“Brandon’s done a tremendous job, and he’s probably had as good a second half of season as any pitcher in minor league baseball,” Stearns said. “He’s made some real adjustments. He’s pitched great.”

The Mets’ plan for Tong after Friday is unclear. While McLean has cemented himself in the club’s starting rotation after allowing just two runs over 12 ⅓ innings in his first two starts, Tong will join the Mets as their sixth starter.

Mendoza said he didn’t know if Tong would move to the bullpen following Friday’s start.

“We’re going turn by turn at this point,” Stearns said. “And it’s going to be a combination of what the matchups are, who we think match up well, how our guys are throwing, who needs rest, who doesn’t need rest. I think in September, we try not to plan too far ahead and we’re going to go turn by turn.”

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