Rodriguez hits 660th to match Mays
Alex Rodriguez tied Willie Mays for fourth place in major league history with his 660th home run, breaking an eighth-inning tie with a pinch-hit shot that sent the visiting New York Yankees to a 3-2 win against the Boston Red Sox.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi left Rodriguez out of the starting lineup to rest him but sent him up to bat for Garrett Jones with one out in the eighth.
Rodriguez lined a fastball from Junichi Tazawa (0-1) into the left-field seats above the Green Monster — his first career homer as a pinch hitter — and jogged around the bases to boos from the crowd at Fenway Park, where he made his major league debut with Seattle in 1994.
The Yankees’ reaction was a bit subdued for a teammate who was suspended all last season for his involvement in the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal. Players stayed in the dugout, applauding, but did give him a high fives.
Rodriguez and the Yankees have a $30 million marketing agreement that calls for payments of $6 million each for up to five accomplishments, payable within 15 days of designation by the team. The accomplishments were contemplated to be home runs 660, 714, 755, 762 and 763.
Reds
Starter Homer Bailey will have surgery on his pitching elbow and miss the rest of the season, a significant setback to Cincinnati’s struggling staff. Bailey tore a ligament in his right elbow and will have Tommy John surgery next Friday. “It’s absolutely crushing to Homer personally, to our ballclub,” manager Bryan Price said. “We were really looking forward to a healthy Homer Bailey this year and that type of influence on our club.”
Royals
Kansas City shortstop Alcides Escobar was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list, retroactive to Thursday. Escobar, who did not miss a game last season, was struck in the face by Danny Salazar’s pitch in the fifth inning Wednesday night in Cleveland. “He took his impact tests and there were some issues with it in terms of reaction speed and stuff like that,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “This is something you don’t fool with. I’ve seen end guys end their careers with concussions.”
Tigers
Manager Brad Ausmus said that Justin Verlander will undergo a third MRI exam early next week in Chicago to determine how much fluid remains in his right triceps area. Verlander threw “extremely light toss” for the second time in three days Thursday, Ausmus said, but he won’t be able to progress past that point until the Tigers are certain that the fluid is gone.