Connect with us

Published

on

ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung exited Sunday’s 6-0 win over the Miami Marlins in the sixth inning with a left thumb fracture.

Originally announced as a contusion during the game, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy confirmed in his postgame media availability that X-rays revealed the fracture for the All-Star third baseman.

“That’s all I can give you right now,” Bochy said. “He’ll see a specialist, we’ll see where we’re at, what needs to be done, whatever. We just don’t know yet.”

Jung left shortly after turning a 5-4 double play. With runners on first and second, Miami’s Jorge Soler ripped a sharp liner at Jung, who couldn’t hang on to the ball. Jung then picked it up and stepped on third before firing to second to complete the double play.

Jung, who entered Sunday’s game batting .275 with 22 home runs and 67 RBIs, is in his second season with the Rangers, and he has been a mainstay in one of baseball’s best lineups.

Jung was 0-for-2 with a strikeout before leaving, and he was replaced by shortstop Ezequiel Duran in the lineup, while Josh H. Smith moved from short to third.

Duran homered in the victory, as did Nathaniel Lowe, Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia. Andrew Heaney allowed four singles in 5⅔ shutout innings as the Rangers completed a sweep of their six-game homestand, a stretch that included the debut of starter Max Scherzer following his trade from the New York Mets.

“If you look at all facets of the game, we pitched well, and the offense, well, we had big hits and the long ball, certainly,” Bochy said of the homestand. “We flashed the leather defensively, we played well there. When you have a homestand like that, you probably did play well in all facets.”

Sandy Alcantara (4-10), the National League’s reigning Cy Young winner, gave up five runs in six innings and allowed three homers for the first time since September. Alcantara is 1-4 in his past seven starts for the Marlins.

Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Published

on

By

Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz accepted an invitation on Tuesday to compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta.

Cruz is the fifth player to commit to the competition, held one day before the All-Star Game. The others are Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.

Cruz, 26, is known for having a powerful bat and regularly delivers some of the hardest-hit homers in the sport. His home run May 25 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph and was the hardest hit homer in the 10-year Statcast era.

But Cruz has never hit more than 21 in a season, and that was in 2024. He’s on track to set a new high this year and has 15 in 80 games.

Cruz has 55 career homers in 324 games with the Pirates.

Cruz will be the first Pittsburgh player to participate in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019. Other Pirates to be part of the event were Bobby Bonilla (1990), Barry Bonds (1992), Jason Bay (2005), Andrew McCutchen (2012) and Pedro Alvarez (2013).

Overall, Cruz is batting just .203 this season but leads the National League with 28 steals.

Among the players to turn down an invite to the eight-player field are two-time champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies and 2024 runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.

Defending champion Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers recently turned down a spot as a consideration to nagging injuries.

Top power threats Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers also are expected to skip the event.

Continue Reading

Sports

Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

Published

on

By

Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

New York Yankees All-Star Jazz Chisholm Jr., after making 28 starts in a row at third base, is moving back to second base starting with Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Aaron Boone said.

Boone confirmed the change on the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast on Tuesday.

Chisholm, who is batting .245 with 15 home runs, 38 RBIs and 10 steals in 59 games, has recently been bothered by soreness in his right shoulder, which he said is an issue only on throws.

He said he prefers to play second base and prepared in the offseason to exclusively play in that spot before injuries played havoc with Boone’s lineup card, starting with Chisholm’s oblique injury in May.

Third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera went down with a season-ending ankle injury on May 12.

DJ LeMahieu manned second base while Chisholm was at third, but Boone has a better glove option in Oswald Peraza, a utility man with a stronger arm plus defensive skills across the infield.

LeMahieu, 36, is batting .266 with two home runs and 12 RBIs this season.

Continue Reading

Sports

White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

Published

on

By

White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

The Chicago White Sox reinstated outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list Tuesday.

Robert, 27, has struggled this season through career lows in batting average (.185), on-base percentage (.270) and slugging percentage (.313). Through 73 games, he has amassed just 16 extra-base hits (eight doubles, eight home runs) in 285 plate appearances.

He does have 22 stolen bases in 28 attempts and is just one shy of his career- high in steals.

In a corresponding move, the White Sox optioned infielder Tristan Gray to Triple-A Charlotte. Gray was just recalled before Monday night’s game but did not play.

Continue Reading

Trending