AROUND THE HORN

Cubs: Standing among rows of Iowa cornstalks, Nico Hoerner had Johnny Bench on his left and Billy Williams right next to him. “Pretty incredible,” Hoerner said. For sure. Even for a “Field of Dreams.” Led by Drew Smyly and a 10-hit attack, the Cubs beat the Reds 4-2 on Thursday night in Major League Baseball’s second “Field of Dreams” game. Nick Madrigal had three hits for the Cubs in a throwback ballpark a short walk away from the main field for the 1989 movie. Smyly (5-6) pitched five scoreless innings and Ian Happ had two hits, including an RBI double that drove in Hoerner during a fast start for the Cubs. “The atmosphere was amazing,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “Really cool event.” The night began with Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and his father emerging from the iconic outfield cornstalks for their own version of a memorable scene from the film, delighting the sellout crowd of 7,823. “Hey dad, do you wanna have a catch,” Junior said. “I’d like that,” Senior said. The Griffeys then played catch as more parents and children joined them on the field with their own balls and gloves, followed by the Cubs and Reds, dressed in special uniforms inspired by how the franchises looked in the early 20th century. Williams and Bench were among a group of Hall of Famers from each franchise that also joined the festivities.

MLB: Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol didn’t realize there were no Latino general managers left in Major League Baseball after the Tigers fired Al Avila. Marmol himself is one of only three Latino on-field managers, along with the Red Sox’s Alex Cora and Nationals’ Dave Martinez. There were four when the season started, but the Blue Jays fired Charlie Montoyo last month. “That’s outrageous,” Marmol said Thursday, when going over the short list of Latino managers. While roughly 29% of the players on big league rosters to start this season were Latino or Hispanic, and the percentage of coaches was just a tick higher, that hasn’t translated to similar numbers in management positions on and off the field for the 30 MLB teams. Royals manager Mike Matheny was aware of Avila’s firing, but like Marmol was unaware that Avila was baseball’s only Latino GM. “He had a great run. He’s a good baseball man,” Matheny said. “Certainly, we have at least one third of our players are Latino. I know how valuable it is to have that connection in our clubhouse and with our staff. You can see the need to have representation in leadership.” Asked how that could change, he responded, “That’s a great question. I don’t know.” With Avila out after seven years as the Tigers’ GM, MLB has even fewer minorities in leading front-office positions. White Sox executive vice president Kenny Williams is the only Black leader of baseball operations for any club, Marlins GM Kim Ng is the only woman and Asian-American in that role, and Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who is of Pakistani descent, is the only Muslim.

Astros: Astros outfielder Michael Brantley will miss the rest of the season after he had right shoulder surgery. The 35-year-old Brantley hasn’t appeared in a big league game since June 26. He hit .288 with five homers and 26 RBIs in 64 games in the final season of a $32 million, two-year contract. Aledmys Díaz was in left field for Friday night’s game.