Rizzo not punished for slide
Collided with Padres C Hedges
Anthony Rizzo received a call from Major League Baseball about his collision Monday with San Diego catcher Austin Hedges at home plate, but the Chicago Cubs slugger will not be punished.
MLB chief baseball officer Joe Torre spoke with Rizzo Tuesday to inform him he had violated Rule 7.13, which protects catchers from collisions. The rule was introduced in 2014.
Rizzo slammed into Hedges in the sixth inning of Chicago’s 3-2 win. Rizzo was called out, and Hedges left the game with a bruised right thigh.
“It an instinct play, there’s no intent to be malicious toward Austin Hedges, toward the San Diego Padres, it wasn’t a statement,” Rizzo said.
“It’s a tough baseball rule and there’s a lot of gray area. The league looked at it, and it’s over with now.”
“It was a bad slide,” Hedges said. “I clearly gave him the plate. He went out of his way, got me pretty good. I thought I gave him enough plate to go ahead and slide.”
Hedges was out of the lineup Tuesday.
Yankees
Aaron Judge officially has been invited to participate in the Home Run Derby the night before the All-Star Game July 11 in Miami. Judge, who will represent the Yankees in the game, said he’s still mulling over whether to do the derby. “I haven’t decided yet,” said Judge, who hit his 24th home run of the season Tuesday night in the opening game of a series against Anaheim.
Angels
Closer Bud Norris was placed on the 10-day disabled list because of right knee inflammation. Norris has been dealing with the injury on and off for a month. “He responded. He was fine. It just seems like it acted up again, so we want to take a halfstep backward, let it calm down,” manager Mike Scioscia said.
Marlins
Left-hander Braxton Garrett, Miami’s’ top prospect, had Tommy John surgery. Garrett was Miami’s seventh overall selection in the 2016 amateur draft. Garrett, 19, made his professional debut this year with Class A Greensboro. Dr. James Andrews performed the surgery.
Elsewhere
Umpire Joe West worked his 5,000th major league game. West was behind the plate for the Arizona and Colorado game at Coors Field. West, 64, is the third umpire to work at least 5,000 games, joining Hall of Famer Bill Klem and Bruce Froemming.