AROUND THE HORN
Braves: Sean Kazmar Jr. returned to the major leagues after an 13-year absence, pinch hitting for the Braves and grounding into a double play on Saturday against the Cubs. The 36-year-old infielder’s contract was selected by the Braves from their alternate training site before the game. He pinch hit in the fifth inning grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Kazmar had not played in the major leagues on Sept. 23, 2008, with the Padres. He appeared in 19 games that season for his only previous major league action, and had since played in Triple-A for the Padres, Mariners, Mets and Braves, plus Double-A for the Mets — a total of 1,106 minor league games, “That was probably one of the greatest moments I’ve had as a manager at all the levels, quite honestly,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of informing Kazmar of his return.
Brewers: Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich, who has missed four straight games because of a sore back, was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday. “There’s nothing new, nothing to add,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s what it is. We’ll take a couple more days without baseball activities and see where that leaves us.” The move was retroactive to April 14. The Brewers announced Yelich’s injury as a lower back strain. Milwaukee filled Yelich’s spot on the roster by recalling right-handed reliever Eric Yardley from the organization’s alternate training site in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Diamondbacks: After Tim Locastro’s 29-steal streak to start his major league career ended, Arizona’s center fielder immediately knew something was wrong with his left pinkie finger. “Saw it was not facing the right way,” Locastro said. “Looked down again and got worried and saw some blood.” Locastro is expected to head to the injured list after dislocating that finger when he was thrown out at second base Saturday by Washington catcher Yan Gomes, who also homered and drove in two runs to help the Nationals beat the Diamondbacks 6-2 for their first back-to-back wins this season.
Athletics: Matt Olson, Aramís García and Mark Canha each homered and the Oakland Athletics shut out the Detroit Tigers for a second straight game, 7-0 on Saturday for their seventh win in a row. After Oakland’s 3-0 victory Friday, Cole Irvin (1-2) struck out six, didn’t walk a batter and allowed four hits over six innings to earn his first victory since joining the A’s. The lefthander, tagged for eight runs on 12 hits over 9 ⅔ innings in his initial two starts, hung tough against a Tigers lineup featuring five switch-hitters. The last time the A’s blanked the Tigers on backto-back days was in June 1973 when Ken Holtzman and Catfish Hunter did it on Oakland’s way to the second of three straight World Series championships.
Blue Jays: Steven Matz held the Royals without a hit into the sixth inning, and Jonathan Davis and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to give the Blue Jays a 5-1 victory in the seven-inning opener of their doubleheader Saturday. Matz (3-0) only allowed a pair of walks before Nicky Lopez’s blooper to left with one out in the sixth. Matz gave up Andrew Benintendi’s two-out double later in the inning for the only other blemish on an otherwise dominant performance. The left-hander, who gave way to Rafael Dolis for the seventh inning, struck out five around two walks and two hits while allowing the Royals to hit just five balls out of the infield.