A trio of Seattle Mariners regulars were suspended Monday for their brawl with the Los Angeles Angels, and another went on the injured list after being hurt in the melee.
Outfielder Jesse Winker was banned seven games, shortstop J.P. Crawford received a five-game suspension and outfielder Julio Rodríguez got a two-game punishment from Major League Baseball for their roles in Sunday’s fight. Catcher Luis Torrens went on the 10-day injured list with a left shoulder injury suffered in the fracas.
Manager Scott Servais was sporting bruises on his arm after being caught at the bottom of a pile during the fracas. While Angels interim manager Phil Nevin was banned 10 games, Servais escaped punishment from MLB.
Winker, Crawford and Rodríguez are appealing their suspensions, and they’ll remain active until they’ve had hearings. Crawford was set to lead off a game Monday against Baltimore, with Rodríguez and Winker hitting right behind him.
The Angels had four players, four coaches and an interpreter suspended. Their losses won’t be quite as painful on the player side. Injured third baseman Anthony Rendon got five games, pitchers Andrew Wantz and Ryan Tepera got three and pitcher Raisel Iglesias got two.
CARDINALS: St. Louis placed right-hander Jack Flaherty and center fielder Harrison Bader on the injured list.
Flaherty was placed on the 15-day list with a right shoulder strain. He left Sunday’s start after throwing two scoreless innings.
The 26-year-old missed the first 64 games of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery. He has made three starts and not pitched more than three innings in any one.
Bader, a gold glove winner, was placed on the 10-day IL with planter fasciitis in his right foot. He’s been dealing with the injury since spring training.
“Hopefully, it’s something that we still see him this year,” John Mozeliak, the Cardinals president of baseball operations, said of Flaherty. “I mean, we’re pretty optimistic that that will be the case based on what we’re hearing. But, you know, clearly it’s going to take some more time to get him back.”
Flaherty had been scheduled for two more rehab starts before convincing the team to activate him. He had made rehab starts in Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis where he gave up one run in seven combined innings before being activated.
Bader said his foot has been bothering him more lately, including consecutive days where he experienced some sharp pain.
ROYALS-MARINERS TRADE: Kansas City traded slugger Carlos Santana and nearly $4.3 million to Seattle for right-handers Wyatt Mills and William Fleming on Monday, clearing the way for the Royals to bring up hot prospect Vinnie Pasquantino .
The Royals optioned Mills, a 27-year-old veteran, to Triple-A Omaha while designating right-hander Ronald Bolaños for assignment. Fleming was assigned to Class-A Quad Cities.
Kansas City agreed to send $4,269,231 to Seattle, leaving the Mariners to pay just $1.5 million of the remainder of Santana’s salary in the second year of a two-year, $17.5 million contract.
TWINS: Minnesota must make a midseason change to a vital role on their field staff, with the sudden departure of pitching coach Wes Johnson for a lucrative college job at LSU.
Before opening a five-game set at AL Central rival Cleveland on Monday, the Twins announced that Johnson will work the series against the Guardians through Thursday. The 50-year-old will then return to his roots in the powerhouse SEC and join the Tigers.
GUARDIANS: Billionaire sports businessman David Blitzer has officially joined the Cleveland Guardians as a minority owner and will eventually take control of the ballclub.
The team announced its agreement with Blitzer and his investment group on Monday, the final step in him taking a minority stake in the American League team.
Owner Paul Dolan had been looking for a minority investor for several years and ended his search with Blitzer, who also has ownership stakes in the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
METS: Pitcher Tyler Megill will be out until at least mid-August, with the team moving him to the 60-day injured list.
The 26-year-old right-hander was put on the 15-day IL on June 17 because of a strained right shoulder, joining aces Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. The Mets said at the time Megill would not throw for four weeks.
Earlier in the season, Megill missed four weeks with right biceps tendinitis and returned June 10. He is 4-2 with a 5.01 ERA in nine starts this year.
New York made the 40-man roster move to open a spot for infielder Kramer Robertson, who was claimed off waivers from Atlanta and optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. New York also activated right-hander Colin Holderman from the injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse.
MONDAY’S GAMES
YANKEES 9, ATHLETICS 5: The Yankees took advantage of two catcher’s interference calls, a hit batter and a walk to spark a bizarre six-run seventh inning, and Josh Donaldson followed with a go-ahead, two-run double that led best-in-the-majors New York over thebig-league worst Oakland at Yankee Stadium.
Oakland built a 5-1 lead against Jordan Montgomery behind Elvis Andrus’ tiebreaking, three-run double in a five-run third inning.
Giancarlo Stanton’s fourth-inning home run and Aaron Judge’s fifth-inning RBI single started the Yankees to their 23rd come-from-behind win.
DJ LeMahieu walked against Adam Oller with one out in the seventh. Judge hit a grounder to third, perhaps hard enough for a double play, but plate umpire Manny Gonzalez immediately signaled interference on catcher Sean Murphy.
A.J. Puk (1-1) hit Anthony Rizzo near the right elbow with his first pitch, loading the bases, and when Stanton fouled off a 1-0 pitch, Yankees manager Aaron Boone asked for a video review that led to another interference call on Murphy, forcing in a run and cutting New York’s deficit to 5-4.
Donaldson lined an 0-2 fastball at the letters into left field for a 6-5 lead, Jose Trevino hit another two-run double with two outs against Austin Pruitt and scored on Marwin Gonzalez’s single.
NATIONALS 3, PIRATES 2: Maikel Franco hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning, and Washington won at home in the opener of a three-game series.
Luis García had three hits for Washington, which has won five of its last seven games.
Top prospect Oneil Cruz hit his first homer of the season for Pittsburgh, which has lost the first four games of its road trip by a combined five runs.
TWINS 11, GUARDIANS 1: Gary Sánchez had four RBI and Sonny Gray pitched seven superb innings to help Minnesota stretch its lead in the AL Central with a blowout of the Guardians in Cleveland.
Sánchez hit a three-run homer in the second inning off Triston McKenzie (4-6), sending the first-place Twins on their way to an easy win in the opener of a five-game series. Nick Gordon and Carlos Correa added two-run homers for Minnesota, now three games up on Cleveland.
CARDINALS 9, MARLINS 0: Juan Yepez had his first career multi-homer game and Adam Wainwright pitched seven scoreless innings St. Louis’ rout of the Marlins in St. Louis.
Yepez’s five RBIs matched a Cardinals game-high this season. Paul Goldschmidt went 4 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBIs.
Wainwright (6-5) scattered seven hits through his first five innings, but escaped trouble with the help of nine strikeouts. He retired the final seven batters he faced.
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