AROUND THE HORN
Athletics: His right eye still swollen and bruised after being hit in the head by a line drive last week, A’s ace Chris Bassitt is intent on pitching again this season. That might be difficult considering there’s barely more than a month left in the season, but Bassitt isn’t ready to rule anything out. “The doctors made a mistake in telling me that I’m going to be OK in a couple weeks,” Bassitt said while sitting in the A’s dugout before Saturday’s game against the Yankees. “When they said that, I said, ‘All right, we’re rocking.’ Obviously the front office and (manager Bob Melvin) and those guys are going to do everything to take care of me,” he said. Bassitt met with the media four days after surgery to repair a fractured cheekbone suffered when he was struck by a 100 mph line drive off the bat of Brian Goodwin of the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 17. Bassitt was carted off the field and taken to a hospital in Chicago, where he received stitches for cuts in his face and was diagnosed with a displaced tripod fracture in his right cheek. After undergoing surgery at Rush University on Tuesday, Bassitt traveled back to the Bay Area on Friday and rejoined his teammates on Saturday. Before getting hurt, the 32-year-old righty was 12-4 with a 3.22 ERA to go with 154 strikeouts in 151 innings. His wins are still tied for second-most in the AL.
Indians: The team sent reliever James Karnichak to Triple-A Columbus after the struggling right-hander failed to retire a batter in Friday night’s loss to the Red Sox. Karinchak entered the game in the eighth inning with a 3-1 lead, but gave up a walk, a single and a threerun homer to Jonathan Araúz. Karinchak was removed following the home run in the 4-3 defeat. The move was announced before Saturday’s game against the Red Sox. 1B Bobby Bradley, who had been out with a sore knee, was activated from the 10-day injured list. Karinchak has gone from being one of the most dominant relievers in the AL to the minors in a span of six weeks. He was 6-2 and had a 2.52 ERA with 68 strikeouts in 39 innings over 41 games at the All-Star break. Karinchak is 1-2 and has an 8.40 ERA with nine strikeouts in 15 innings over 18 games since.
Pirates: The team released struggling OF Gregory Polanco, 29, cutting ties with the last remaining player from the group that helped guide the franchise to three straight postseason berths from 2013-15. Polanco’s age, declining production and onerous contract — his $11.6 million salary this season accounted for more than 20% of the team’s entire 2021 payroll — made him an ill fit for what the Pirates are trying to do. Polanco hit just .208 with 11 home runs and 36 RBIs this season.
Cubs: INF David Bote landed on the 10-day injured list after he sprained his right ankle when he stepped on a ball during batting practice. Bote got hurt before Friday’s 17-13 loss to the White Sox. The ball was obscured by some white lettering in foul territory at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Padres: Stumbling into Anaheim still reeling from three embarrassing losses to the Dodgers, the Padres got a big lift from Joe Musgrove late Friday night as he threw a three-hitter in a 5-0 victory over the Angels. Musgrove was dominant in his first complete game since his no-hitter. He allowed only one runner to reach second base at Angel Stadium. The El Cajon native struck out nine and walked two.