Padres, Yankees set to carry on
Harvey cheered in return to New York
A look at what’s happening around the majors Thursday:
PANDEMIC PROBLEMS: The San Diego Padres and New York Yankees are both short-staffed due to COVID-19 outbreaks, but neither has had to interrupt their schedule.
San Diego stars Fernando Tatis Jr. and Wil Myers have tested positive, and Eric Hosmer, Jurickson Profar and Jorge Mateo were held out of Wednesday’s doubleheader in Colorado due to contact tracing. The Padres are off on Thursday before starting a home series against NL Central-leading St. Louis on Friday night.
Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres was kept out of Wednesday night’s starting lineup at Tampa Bay as a precaution as the number of confirmed positive tests among the team’s coaching and support staff reached seven.
Manager Aaron Boone said MLB’s Joint COVID-19 Health and Safety Committee is waiting and reviewing a number of test results. The members of New York’s traveling party have been tested at least three times each since Tuesday.
The Yankees have been relaxing virus protocols since April 30 after passing MLB’s 85% vaccination threshold among tier 1 staff, including players, coaches and trainers. Boone said the vaccinations were blunting the virus’ effects, with only one person showing symptoms.
New York is slated to wrap its series at Tampa Bay.
BURNES RETURNS: Brewers ace Corbin Burnes is set face St. Louis in his first start since testing positive for the coronavirus last month. The right-hander is 2-2 with a 1.53 ERA, 49 strikeouts and no walks in 29⅓ innings, but he hasn’t pitched since April 26.
Burnes confirmed Wednesday that he had COVID-19 but said he was asymptomatic. Milwaukee has achieved the 85% vaccination rate required by MLB to ease certain safety protocols, but Burnes said he opted against inoculation for personal reasons. He added he had “no clue” how he might have gotten the virus.
Burnes is scheduled to square off against Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty (6-0, 2.83).
COMEBACK COMPLICATION: Braves right-hander Mike Soroka has experienced a setback in his recovery from surgery to repair his torn right Achilles tendon and will have a follow-up procedure next week. Atlanta’s opening day starter in 2020 tore the tendon Aug. 3 and hasn’t pitched since having season-ending surgery.
Manager Brian Snitker said Wednesday that Soroka will have exploratory surgery early next week in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“I hate it for the kid,” Snitker said. “He’s worked so hard to come back. I hate it for him personally to have this setback.”
Soroka emerged as one of the foundations of the Braves’ rotation in 2019, when he went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA. The Canadian earned a spot in the All-Star Game, finished second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting and sixth for the Cy Young Award.
Wednesday’s Games
METS 7, ORIOLES 1: In New York, Matt Harvey was greeted warmly by Mets fans in his return to Citi Field and harshly by New York’s hitters as the Mets beat Baltimoreon Wednesday.
Harvey pitched against his former team for the first time and allowed Kevin Pillar’s two-run triple in a three-run second inning that carried the Mets to their seventh straight win.
Wearing orange and black instead of blue and orange, Harvey (3-3) gave up a season-high seven runs and eight hits in 4⅓ innings, and his ERA rose from 3.60 to 4.81 as the last-place Orioles lost for the fifth time in six games.
PADRES 5-2, ROCKIES 3-3: In Denver, Josh Fuentes capped a big night with a two-out, walk-off single in the eighth after earlier hitting a two-run homer and Colorado salvaged a doubleheader split against virus-hampered San Diego.
The Padres, missing starters Fernando Tatis Jr., Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers and two others because of COVID-19 concerns, won the opener 5-3. In the nightcap, Fuentes drove a changeup from reliever Nick Ramirez (0-1) to deep center to set off a celebration near second base as the Rockies snapped a five-game skid.
TIGERS 4, ROYALS 2: In Detroit, Miguel Cabrera drove in two runs and surpassed Omar Vizquel for the most major league hits by a Venezuelan player, leading Detroit past slumping Kansas City.
REDS 5, PIRATES 1 (10 inn): In Pittsburgh, Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez combined to drive in four runs in the 10th inning as Cincinnati’s bullpen threw 5⅓ hitless innings.
YANKEES 1, RAYS 0: In St. Petersburg, Fla., Gerrit Cole struck out 12 over eight stellar innings, Aaron Hicks had a sacrifice fly and New York beat Tampa Bay amid a coronavirus outbreak that sidelined shortstop Gleyber Torres.
BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 1: In Milwaukee, Travis Shaw hit a tiebreaking double and Avisaíl García added a two-run homer in the eighth inning as Milwaukee capitalized on some good fortune to defeat St. Louis.
PHILLIES 5, NATIONALS 2: In Washington, Rhys Hoskins hit a goahead single in the 10th inning as Philadelphia rallied and then took the lead against struggling Washington closer Brad Hand.
INDIANS 2, CUBS 1 (10 inn): In Cleveland, Amed Rosario’s basesloaded single with two outs in the 10th inning gave Cleveland a win over Chicago.
Rosario, who drove in Cleveland’s first run with a sixth-inning double, singled to right on a 1-1 pitch from Keegan Thompson (1-1), giving the Indians a two-game sweep.
BLUE JAYS 4, BRAVES 1: In Atlanta, Teoscar Hernández hit two homers and drove in three runs, Hyun Jin Ryu pitched seven sharp innings and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Atlanta to continue their dominance of the Braves.
WHITE SOX 13, TWINS 8: In Chicago, touted rookie Andrew Vaughn hit his first career home run, Yasmani Grandal connected for the second straight day and Chicago outslugged Minnesota for its fifth win in a row.
A’S 4, RED SOX 1: In Boston, James Kaprielian got the victory in his first major league start with five innings of one-run ball, Matt Olson homered, and Sean Murphy and Jed Lowrie also had RBIs for the A’s.
ASTROS 9, ANGELS 1: In Houston, José Altuve and Yuli Gurriel homered early as Houston hit a season-high five long balls against Los Angeles.
MARLINS 3, D’BACKS 2 : In Phoenix, Cody Poteet won his major league debut and Jesús Aguilar homered for a third consecutive game as Miami edged Arizona.
DODGERS 7, MARINERS 1: In Los Angeles, Max Muncy homered in a four-run fifth as Los Angeles beat the Seattle for the second night in a row.