Indians’ Martin recovering from serious infection
Cleveland Indians outfielder Leonys Martin is recovering from a bacterial infection that team president Chris Antonetti described as “life-threatening.”
Martin is in stable condition at the Cleveland Clinic. Antonetti provided an update on Martin’s status when he addressed the team prior to Monday’s series opener against the Reds in Cincinnati.
Doctors determined Martin had a bacterial infection that entered his bloodstream and created toxins that damaged his internal organs, compromising their function.
“It was very serious,” Antonetti said. “Thankfully he’s made a lot of progress in the last 24 to 36 hours and he has regained a lot of the organ function. He’s in a good path right now and we’re hopeful he’ll make a full recovery. But, he has a long way to go.”
Martin played in last Tuesday’s game against the Twins, and then felt sick in the middle of the night. When he continued to feel sick the following morning, Martin was transported to the Cleveland Clinic and his condition quickly worsened.
“It progressed rapidly,” Antonetti said. “It was life-threatening.”
Martin, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list on Thursday, is batting .333 with two homers and four RBIs in six games since he was acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline. He is hitting .255 with 11 homers and 33 RBIs overall in 84 games.
Outfielder Greg Allen was recalled from Triple-A Columbus to replace Martin. The Indians have been dealing with injuries to outfielders all season and hoped adding Martin would provide stability.
Baseball sold for $623,369
A baseball with the signatures of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Cy Young and seven other greats of the game has sold for more than $600,000.
The players all signed the ball on the same day in 1939, when they had gathered to become the first class to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame. SCP Auctions said it has sold for $623,369. That crushes the previous record of $345,000 for a signed ball, set in 2013.
The winner was identified only as a Southern California collector. The only living original inductee who didn’t sign it was Lou Gehrig, who on that day was headed to a hospital where he’d be diagnosed with ALS.
Toussaint wins big league debut
Right-handed pitcher Touki Toussaint wants to lead other Haitians to the big leagues. He set quite a compelling example in his debut with the Atlanta Braves.
The 22-year-old Haitian-American broke into the majors with six dazzling innings, leading the first-place Braves to a 9-1 rout of the Miami Marlins in the first game of a doubleheader.
Looking cool as can be on a sweltering summer day in Atlanta, Toussaint took full advantage of his temporary promotion to serve as the team’s 26th player. He surrendered just two hits and limited the damage from his only serious jam to a single run.
Haiti has never sent a native-born player to the majors. Toussaint was born in Florida but moved to Haiti just a few months later, living there for about eight years.
Yankees put Sabathia on disabled list
The New York Yankees put pitcher CC Sabathia on the 10-day disabled list because of right knee inflammation.
Sabathia was put on the DL a day after pitching six shutout innings of one-hit ball against Texas. The 38-year-old left-hander is 7-4 with a 3.32 ERA in 22 starts.