MLB REPORT
NEW YORK YANKEES
Giancarlo Stanton returned to the Yankees’ lineup Wednesday, going 1-for-3 in a loss to the Angels. He has been out since June 25 after straining the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He’s played just 10 games this season due to various injuries and is returning with 12 days remaining in the regular season. Stanton is hitting .294 with one home run and seven RBIs.
The 29-year-old slugger, in his second season with the Yankees, had been working out at the team’s minor league complex in Tampa.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Closer Felipe Vazquez was being held in a Pennsylvania jail on multiple felony charges after allegedly telling investigators he attempted to have sex with an underage girl during a meeting at her house in 2017.
Vazquez, 28, is charged with statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors, all felonies, and a misdemeanor count of indecent assault of a person under 16 years old.
The charges are related to Vazquez’s alleged encounters with a girl starting in 2017, when she was 13. Vazquez has been in the jail since surrendering to authorities Tuesday on a felony warrant issued in Florida stemming from illicit electronic communication with the same girl.
Vazquez began talking to the girl on social media in 2017 before driving to her house outside Pittsburgh, according to court papers. In an interview with troopers last month, she said she got in Vazquez’s car, he removed her pants and tried to have sex with her, the trooper wrote.
On Tuesday, troopers interviewed Vazquez at his residence and wrote that he admitted to driving to the girl’s house and trying to have sex with her.
Major League Baseball placed Vazquez on administrative leave under its agreement with the players’ association on handling domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse. Vazquez is on the restricted list and will get his $4 million salary but is ineligible to play.
Team president Frank Coonelly, general manager Neal Huntington and manager Clint Hurdle addressed the players in a pregame meeting. Vazquez’s locker has been cleaned out.