Rangers’ Beltre to go on shelf
The Texas Rangers finished spring training strong. Adrian Beltre didn’t.
Beltre will go on the disabled list to begin his 20th majorleague season, manager Jeff Banister said after the Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 5-3 in Arlington, Texas, to end the teams’ exhibition schedule Saturday.
The Rangers said the third baseman would go on the 10day disabled list Sunday, retroactive to Thursday, with tightness in his right calf. Blue Jays extend Gibbons: Blue Jays manager John Gibbons received a contract extension through the 2019 season after guiding Toronto to the playoffs the past two years.
The team said Saturday there is a club option for the 2020 season. His contract had been restructured before the 2016 season. Gibbons has spent parts of nine seasons as Toronto’s manager. The team ended a 22-year playoff drought in 2015.
Last fall the Blue Jays finished 89-73, beat Baltimore in the AL wild-card game, defeated Texas in the AL Division Series and lost to Cleveland in the ALCS. Exhibition highlights: The Red Sox and Nationals took a tour of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., before one last inconsequential baseball game prior to Opening Day. Playing within the guarded walls of the academy on Navy’s home diamond, Washington and Boston played to a 4-4 tie in a tiny stadium jammed with 1,030 fans — most of them midshipmen . ... Jimmy Nelson pitched five innings of one-run ball in his final start before the season, Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit his fourth homer of the spring and the host Brewers beat the White Sox 5-4. Briefly: Former Giants infielder Matt Duffy, recovering from Achilles surgery, will begin the season on the Rays’ 10-day disabled list. Tampa Bay also said reliever Tommy Hunter, outfielder Peter Bourjos and first baseman Rickie Weeks Jr. will be on the Opening Day roster after joining the Rays on minor-league contracts . ... A pair of Mariners newcomers, shortstop Jean Segura and right fielder Mitch Haniger, both with Diamondbacks last season, are set to bat at the top of Seattle’s lineup to start the season. Segura hit .341 in spring training, Haniger .385.