AROUND THE HORN
Phillies: Rhys Hoskins will miss the rest of the season with an abdominal tear that requires surgery, the Phillies slugger announced Thursday. Hoskins leads the Phillies with 27 HRS and 71 RBIS, and the news is a major blow to the team’s playoff hopes. The Phillies entered Thursday trailing the firstplace Braves by five games in the NL East. Hoskins had been playing through an abdominal injury all season, but he aggravated it when he dove awkwardly for a ball against the Nationals on Aug. 5. He spent two weeks on the injured list, returned to the lineup Sunday and hit two HRS in a win against the Padres. He didn’t start again until Wednesday’s loss to the Rays, during which he made a few plays in the field that further exacerbated the injury. Hoskins’ final at-bat this season was a game-tying HR in the eighth inning against the Rays. He said Thursday he can’t move laterally at first base or run well enough to continue playing. “It stinks,” he said. “The magnitude with where we are as a team and the time of year, as a player you want to be out there to help your team as much as you can. There’s been a lot of effort the last couple weeks to make that an option, but unfortunately sometimes the body just doesn’t respond.” The Phillies placed Hoskins on the IL. Hoskins said he will likely have surgery within the next week and that the recovery period is 6 to 8 weeks.
Orioles: A day after ending a 19-game losing streak, the major leagueworst Orioles handled Shohei Ohtani and the visiting Angels again, getting a grand slam and six RBIS from Pedro Severino in a 13-1 victory. Ohtani led off the game with a HR, his Mlb-leading 41st, but that was the only highlight for the Angels, who have lost five of six. The Orioles won two games in a row for the first time since July 30-31 and took their first series since a three-game sweep of the Nationals (July 23-25). Keegan Akin (1-8) picked up his second career win Thursday, allowing one run and three hits with six strikeouts and two walks over seven innings.
White Sox: Luis Robert hit a two-run home run, Carlos Rodón won in his return from the IL and the White Sox beat the host Blue Jays 10-7. José Abreu, César Hernández and Eloy Jiménez each hit solo shots as the White Sox earned a split in the four-game series. Rodón (10-5) allowed two runs and five hits in five innings. Activated off the IL before the game, Rodón hadn’t pitched since Aug. 7 because of a sore shoulder. Tim Anderson had three hits and two RBIS and Leury Garcia had two RBIS and scored twice as the AL Central leaders held on after building a 9-2 lead. Marcus Semien hit two HRS for the Blue Jays, a solo shot off Rodón in the first and a two-run blast off Michael Kopech as the Blue Jays closed the gap with a fiverun sixth. The HRS were his 31st and 32nd.
Jonathan India hit a three-run HR, Nick Castellanos also went deep and the visiting Reds beat the NL Central-leading Brewers 5-1 to avoid a three-game sweep. Sonny Gray (6-6) allowed three hits in six scoreless innings for the Reds, who still trail the Brewers by 8 games. The Reds currently hold the second NL wild card spot.