SEAGER OUT FOR YEAR

Dodgers SS needs elbow surgery

» The Los Angeles PHOENIX

Dodgers’ difficult April got a lot worse Monday with news that twotime AllStar shortstop and 2016 NL Rookie of the Year Corey Seager will undergo seasonending Tommy John surgery.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the operation will be performed Friday in Los Angeles to repair a right ulnar collateral ligament sprain.

“It’s a big blow,” Roberts said. The 24yearold infielder had been bothered by a sore elbow since the middle of last season but had tried to deal with the problem with rest and rehabilitation rather than surgery.

Seager spoke to reporters in the dugout before the Dodgers played NL West rival Arizona on Monday night. He said he felt pain and numbness after a couple of throws in the recently completed series at San Francisco.

“I had a few bad throws over the weekend and went and got an MRI this morning and it was necessary to have surgery,” he said.

There was no doubt surgery was needed, Seager said, calling it “cut and dried.”

Kingham moves into Pirates rotation.

WASHINGTON» Pirates rookie Nick Kingham’s nearly perfect debut has earned him at least one more start in the majors.

Kingham took a perfect game into the seventh inning of his first big league start, retiring the first 20 batters in Pittsburgh’s 50 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

He left after seven innings, allowing one hit on 98 pitches, in the best debut by a major league starter in more than a halfcentury.

The Pirates weren’t necessarily planning to keep Kingham in the majors after his spot start. Now he’s slated to pitch again on Friday at Milwaukee.

“We had two different plans drawn up and that was one of the plans we had drawn up,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said Monday.

Rangers put lefty Perez on DL.

TEXAS» Texas RangARLINGTON, ers lefthanded starter Martin Perez has been placed on the 10day disabled list because of right elbow discomfort.

The Rangers made the move before Monday night’s series opener at Cleveland. Reliever Jose Leclerc was recalled from TripleA Round Rock for his third big league stint this season.

Perez had arthroscopic surgery on his nonthrowing elbow in December. He broke a bone in a fall after being spooked by a bull on his ranch in Venezuela.

Phillies place reliever Arano on DL

MIAMI

» The Philadelphia Phillies placed righthanded reliever Victor Arano on the 10day disabled list Monday because of a mild right rotator cuff strain.

The move was made after Arano underwent an MRI in Philadelphia, and before the Phils opened a series at Miami. He has an 0.75 ERA in 12 innings and 10 games while allowing only five hits.

Lefthander Zac Curtis was recalled from TripleA Lehigh Valley. — The Associated Press