Astros’ McCullers won’t return in 2019
Houston right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. will miss all of next season following Tommy John surgery. The Astros announced McCullers had the ulnar-collateral ligament in his right elbow repaired Tuesday.
The 25-year-old was 10-6 with a 3.86 ERA in 22 starts and three relief appearances this year, striking out 142 in 1281⁄3 innings. He was 10-4 before the All-Star break, then went on the disabled list from Aug. 5 to Sept. 24 because of elbow discomfort.
McCullers returned for the final week of the regular season and had three scoreless relief appearances, then had a 1.80 ERA in five relief outings during the playoffs.
He is 29-22 with a 3.67 ERA in 80 starts and three relief appearances over four seasons.
The A’s announced that manager Bob Melvin’s entire coaching staff will return for 2019: bench coach Ryan Christenson, hitting coach Darren Bush, pitching coach Scott Emerson, base coaches Al Pedrique and Matt Williams, bullpen coach Marcus Jensen, assistant hitting coach Mike Aldrete and qualitycontrol coach Mark Kotsay.
In other coaching moves, the Reds hired Turner Ward from the Dodgers as their hitting coach under new manager David Bell . ... Brodie Van Wagenen made his first public moves as the Mets’ general manager, firing hitting coach Pat Roessler and bullpen coach Ricky Bones, and announcing manager Mickey Callaway will have a new bench coach . ... The Mariners hired Paul Davis as their pitching coach after his five seasons in the Cardinals’ organization. Soccer: With voting for the 2018 Ballon d’Or closing this week, Antoine Griezmann boosted his chances of lifting the most prestigious individual trophy in soccer with an inspired display and a goal in his 50th Champions League game .
Griezmann helped Atlético Madrid bounce back from a heavy loss to Borussia Dortmund with a 2-0 win over the German club.
Liverpool was handed a stunning 2-0 loss at Red Star Belgrade. Barcelona, without Lionel Messi, drew 1-1 at Inter Milan in the evening’s showcase match to become the first team to progress to the knockout stage this season.
Red Star’s victory left Group C wide open after Napoli was held to a 1-1 home draw by Paris Saint-Germain.
Dortmund and Atlético are atop Group A. Dortmund routed Atlético 4-0 last month at home in what was the Spanish team’s worst loss under coach Diego Simeone.
Earlier, Monaco was handed a 4-0 defeat by Club Brugge that prematurely ended the club’s Champions League ambitions as Thierry Henry again failed to secure a first win as coach.
Barcelona is atop Group B, three points ahead of Inter and six ahead of Tottenham, which beat PSV Eindhoven 2-1. Harry Kane scored two late goals for Tottenham.
In Group D, Porto moved closer to a spot in the knockout stage after beating Lokomotiv Moscow 4-1 to end the Russian champion’s qualifying hopes.