Cubs’ Russell put on leave
The Chicago Cubs played without shortstop Addison Russell after he was accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife, and they were unable to overcome a shaky interleague performance by Jose Quintana in a 10-4 loss to the crosstown White Sox yesterday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Russell was placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball after a blog post attributed to Melisa Reidy contained detailed allegations of years of physical and emotional abuse. The 24-year-old Russell can challenge the leave before an arbitrator, and the leave can be extended for additional seven-day periods if the union agrees. He continues to be paid his $3.2 million salary.
Last year, Reidy posted a photo on her Instagram account with a caption suggesting her husband of about 18 months had been unfaithful to her. In another post, a user — described by Melisa as a close friend — made the accusation that Russell had “hit” his wife. The post was later deleted. Russell denied the allegation and the two divorced.
“These allegations are completely false,” Russell said in a statement put out by the union. “I made that clear to Major League Baseball last year and reiterated it to the Cubs (yesterday). I’m confident any full and fair investigation will fully exonerate me.”
The Cubs began the day with a 21⁄2-game lead over second-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
Kevan Smith hit a threerun homer for the White Sox, who finished with 19 hits. Daniel Palka also homered, and Ryan LaMarre went 3-for-3 with three RBI for the victors.
American League
Yankees 10, Orioles 8 — CC Sabathia won for just the second time since the All-Star break, Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks hit two-run homers as host New York held off Baltimore to close in on its second straight AL wild card.
Luke Voit added a two-run single to give him 24 RBI in 31 games with the Yankees, and Hicks scored four runs.
Rays 11, Blue Jays 3 — Austin Meadows drove in three runs, Tommy Pham reached base three times and had two RBI and visiting Tampa Bay toppled Toronto to keep its postseason hopes alive.
Royals 4, Tigers 3 — Ian Kennedy pitched three-run ball into the eighth inning, and visiting Kansas City stopped a five-game slide by holding off Detroit.
National League
Braves 6, Phillies 5 — Host Atlanta moved to the brink of its first NL East title since 2013 with a five-run seventh inning that carried it past Philadelphia.
Ozzie Albies sparked the comeback with a two-run homer and Johan Camargo finished it off with a two-out, two-run single, giving the Baby Braves a chance to celebrate as soon as today with one more victory over the second-place Phillies.
Mets 4, Nationals 2 — Jacob deGrom turned in a record 23rd consecutive quality start, lowered his ERA to 1.77 and boosted his record to .500 as he bids to earn the NL Cy Young Award, allowing one run in seven innings to help visiting New York knock out Washington.
Marlins 1, Reds 0 — Pinch-hitter Isaac Galloway smacked an opposite-field double in the 10th inning to score Brian Anderson and give host Miami a win over Cincinnati.
Elsewhere in baseball — The Texas Rangers fired manager Jeff Banister after the team stumbled to its first consecutive losing records in 10 years after winning AL West titles in each of his first two seasons. Bench coach Don Wakamatsu will serve as interim manager for the remainder of the season.