Line drive breaks pitching hand of Giants’ Bumgarner

Wire Reports

San Francisco Giants ace left-hander Madison Bumgarner is hurt for the second straight year, breaking a bone in his pitching hand when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Kansas City’s Whit Merrifield during a spring training game Friday.

The Giants said X-rays showed the 28-year-old had a broken bone on the outside of his left hand.

Bumgarner, the 2014 World Series MVP, missed nearly three months last season after a dirt bike accident April 20 during an off day in Colorado.

After six straight seasons with double-digit wins, more than 200 innings and 30-plus starts, Bumgarner went 4-9 with a 3.32 ERA in 17 starts and 111 innings last season.

Bumgarner was slated to make his fifth career opening day start on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

The Giants’ rotation took a hit for the second day in a row, as the team learned Thursday it is losing No. 3 starter Jeff Samardzija due to a strained right pectoral muscle. It’s unclear how much time Samardzija will miss.

Red Sox: Right-hander Steven Wright has accepted a 15-game suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy following his arrest Dec. 8.

Wright publicly apologized to his wife, Shannon, after baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the penalty Friday.

The 33-year-old knuckeballer was an All-Star in 2016 but was limited to five starts last year by a left knee injury that required surgery May 8.

He has not pitched in a major league spring training game this year, and it is not clear whether he will start the season on the disabled list.

Twins: Third baseman Miguel Sano will not be suspended by the league after being accused of assault. The commissioner’s office said in a statement Friday “there was insufficient evidence to support a disciplinary determination against Sano, due to conflicting and inconsistent witness accounts and the absence of contemporaneous substantiation.”

Sano was accused of assault in December by a photographer who has covered the Twins.

Nationals: All-Star second baseman Daniel Murphy is likely to remain behind in Florida when Washington breaks camp.

Murphy had micro-fracture surgery on his right knee on Oct. 20 and has not appeared in any major league or minor league spring training games. His rehabilitation has taken longer than expected, and Howie Kendrick or Wilmer Difo are expected to start at second in Thursday’s opener at Cincinnati.

Reds: Right-hander Homer Bailey will make his first opening day start at home Thursday against the Nationals. He’s getting the chance in part because Anthony DeSclafani is sidelined with another injury.

The 31-year-old has been limited to 26 starts the past three seasons because of injuries to his forearm and elbow. Last year, he had bone spurs removed from his elbow before the start of spring training. He was rusty when he returned and wound up 6-9 with a 6.43 ERA in 18 starts.

Bailey is in the fifth season of a $105 million, sixyear contract.

Suspensions: Boston catcher Oscar Hernandez, Chicago Cubs pitcher David Garner, St. Louis pitcher Matt Pearce and Pittsburgh shortstop Andrew Walker all have been suspended for 50 games each under the minor league drug program. Thursday’s Games Friday’s Games

■ Canadiens at Sabres: Late

■ Devils at Penguins: Late

■ Ducks at Jets: Late

■ Canucks at Blues: Late

■ Bruins at Stars: Late

NHL note

■ Obituary: Stanley Cup champion and American Hockey League Hall of Famer Dick Gamble died. He was 89. The AHL’s Rochester Americans announced his death Friday after learning from his family he died Thursday. Gamble had been living in Pittsford, New York. Gamble won the Stanley Cup in 1953 as a member of the Montreal Canadiens and captured the AHL’s Calder Cup three times with Rochester. The left wing is fourth on the AHL career list in goals (468) and fifth in points (892 points). Gamble had 41 goals and 41 assists in 195 regular-season games over parts of NHL eight seasons with the Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs. A Moncton, New Brunswick, native, he was inducted into the AHL’s Hall of Fame in 2007. Last year, a diver found Gamble’s AHL Hall of Fame ring at the bottom of a lake. Gamble didn’t know he had lost it. Today’s Games

Madison Bumgarner was set to start opening day.