Rizzo avoids trouble after plate collision
Anthony Rizzo received a call from Major League Baseball about his collision Monday with San Diego Padres catcher Austin Hedges at home plate, but the Chicago Cubs slugger will not be punished.
MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre spoke with Rizzo on Tuesday to inform him he had violated Rule 7.13, which protects catchers from collisions. The rule was introduced in 2014.
Rizzo slammed into Hedges in the sixth inning of Chicago’s
3-2 win. Rizzo was called out, and Hedges left the game with a bruised right thigh.
“It an instinct play, there’s no intent to be malicious toward Austin Hedges, toward the
San Diego Padres, it wasn’t a statement,” Rizzo said. “It’s a tough baseball rule and there’s a lot of gray area.
“The league looked at it, and it’s over with now.”
“It was a bad slide,” Hedges said Tuesday. “I clearly gave him the plate. He went out of his way, got me pretty good. It was just too bad. I thought I gave him enough plate to go ahead and slide.”
Hedges was out of the lineup Tuesday. The catcher hopes to play Wednesday in the finale of the three-game series.
If plate umpire Jeff Nelson would have called Rizzo in violation of the rule, nothing would have changed.
Padres manager Andy Green called the play a “fairly egregious violation of the rule” on Monday.
■ Yankees: Rookie sensation Aaron Judge was invited to participate in next month’s Home Run Derby.
Judge said he received the invitation last week through his agent but had not yet decided whether to accept.
The 25-year-old outfielder, a towering presence at 6-foot-7, leads the major leagues with 23 home runs, tops the American League with a .335 batting average and is tied for the AL lead in RBIS at 53 with Seattle’s Nelson Cruz heading into Tuesday’s games.
■ Angels: Los Angeles closer Bud Norris was placed on the 10day disabled list because of right knee inflammation.
Manager Mike Scioscia anticipates Norris will be activated on June 29, the first day he is eligible. Scioscia says it is the same injury that forced the right-hander from a game at Miami after three pitches on May 26.
Also, AL MVP Mike Trout, sidelined since May 28 with a torn ligament in his left thumb, was to start swinging Tuesday at a facility near his home in New Jersey, according to Scioscia. Trout will return to California later this week and be evaluated Monday after the team gets home.
■ Red Sox: Boston placed third baseman Pablo Sandoval on the DL with a left ear infection.
The team also optioned righthander Austin Maddox to Triple-a Pawtucket before Tuesday night’s game in Kansas City.
After appearing in just three games last season, Sandoval is batting .212 with four homers and 12 RBIS in 32 games this year. In three seasons since signing a fiveyear, $95 million contract with Boston, Sandoval has batted .237 with 14 homers and 59 RBIS while appearing in just 161 games.
■ Braves: Bartolo Colon’s return to the Atlanta’s rotation was put on hold.
Colon was scheduled to start Wednesday against San Francisco after coming off the 10-day DL with what was described as a strained oblique muscle. But manager Brian Snitker said the 44-year-old Colon is now suffering from a stiff back and will remain on the DL a bit longer.
Colon is 2-7 with a 7.78 ERA, surrendering at least five earned runs in six of his 12 starts.
■ Marlins: Left-hander Braxton Garrett, Miami’s top prospect, underwent Tommy John surgery.
Garrett was the seventh overall selection in the 2016 amateur draft. The 19-year-old made his professional debut this year with Single-a Greensboro, starting four games before going on the disabled list.