AROUND THE HORN
White Sox:
Yoán Moncada went 5 for 6 with two home runs and five RBIs while Dylan Cease fanned nine in six scoreless innings and the White Sox hammered the Athletics 14-2 on late Thursday. They had 21 hits, including 10 extra-base hits, in its highest-scoring game of the season. The Sox have won seven of their last nine games and pulled to within 1 games of the first-place Guardians in the AL Central. Romy González went 4 for 5 with a homer and three RBIs.
Rays: SS Wander Franco was activated from the 10-day injured list after missing two months with a right hamate bone injury that required surgery. The 21-year-old was batting second in the series opener against the AL East-leading Yankees. “We’re excited to get him back here. He’s such a big part of our club,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He makes us better in the lineup. He makes us better defensively, and we’ll just see how it goes.” Franco went on the IL July 10.
Brewers: RHP Freddy Peralta was placed on the 15-day IL with inflammation in his throwing shoulder before the game against the Reds. The 2021 All-Star left during the third inning of his start Thursday night in Milwaukee against the Giants due to fatigue in the shoulder. The team recalled RHP Justin Topa from Triple-A Nashville. Peralta was put on the IL on May 23 with a strained right lat. Since being activated Aug. 3, he made seven starts, reaching six innings in two of them.
Rangers: 3B Josh Jung, 24, was set to make his major league debut. The team’s top prospect was added to the roster before the series opener at home against the Blue Jays. His debut comes seven months after he went to spring training expecting to have a chance to win a spot on the roster then. But he had surgery to repair a torn labrum after discomfort in his non-throwing left shoulder while lifting weights before minor league camp opened. He was the eighth overall pick out of Texas Tech in the 2019 draft. The Rangers placed utilityman Brad Miller on the IL with a hip injury to make room on the roster.
Cubs: LHP Drew Smyly allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings and Yan Gomes and Nico Hoerner homered in a 4-2 victory over the Giants. Smyly (6-8) struck out eight and walked two. Smyly departed after Austin Dean reached on a fielding error to start the eighth. Gomes lofted a two-run shot to left center in the second to give the Cubs the lead for good. Hoerner had a two-run flare off Yunior Marte in the sixth to help end a two-game skid and send the Giants to their fifth straight loss.
MLB: Major League Baseball is ready to voluntarily accept the formation of a minor league union, a key step that will lead to collective bargaining and possibly a strike threat at the start of next season. The Major League Baseball Players Association launched the unionization drive on Aug. 28 and told MLB on Tuesday it had obtained signed authorization cards from the approximately 5,000 to 6,500 players with minor league contracts. If MLB had declined to accept the union, the players’ association’s next step would have been to ask the National Labor Relations Board to conduct an authorization election. “We, I believe, notified the MLBPA today that we’re prepared to execute an agreement on voluntary recognition. I think they’re working on the lanaguage as we speak,” baseball Commssioner Rob Manfred said during a news conference to announce on-field rules changes for next season. Players on 40-man rosters on option to the minor leagues have been represented by the union since 1981.