Done for the year: Braves ace Soroka felled by torn Achilles
When Mike Soroka’s teammates heard him scream, they feared the worst.
When they saw him being helped off the field, unable to put any weight on his right leg, they knew it was bad.
“If Mike Soroka can’t walk off the field, you know it’s pretty serious,” said Freddie Freeman, the Atlanta Braves’ slugging first baseman.
One of baseball’s brightest young pitching stars, Soroka is done for the year after tearing his right Achilles tendon during a seemingly routine play Monday night against the New York Mets.
On a grounder to Freeman’s right, Soroka broke toward first to cover the bag. He made it only one step.
Soroka tumbled to the ground in serious pain, got up for a few tentative steps, then dropped to his knees on the infield grass.
“I heard him yell,” Freeman said. “It’s just a terrible injury for somebody so young, so bright, so determined to be great at this game.”
The Braves placed Soroka on the 45-day injured list.
“Somebody else is going to get an opportunity,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Things like that happen. These guys will regroup. Somebody is going to get an opportunity to do something really good. Our young guys are going to continue to get better. We’re going to be fine.”
Soroka turned 23 on Tuesday but already displayed enormous poise and command of his pitches during his first full season in the big leagues.
A native of Canada, Soroka went 13-4 with a dazzling 2.68 ERA in 2019, earning a spot in the All-Star Game. He finished second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting and sixth for the Cy Young Award, leading the Braves to give him the opening day nod when the shortened season finally began less than two weeks ago.
OHTANI WON’T PITCH AGAIN FOR ANGELS THIS YEAR >>
Shohei Ohtani won’t pitch again this season for the Los Angeles Angels after straining his right forearm in his second start, manager Joe Maddon says.
Ohtani likely will return to the Angels’ lineup as their designated hitter this week, Maddon said Tuesday night before the club opened a road series against the Seattle Mariners.
The Angels’ stance on
Ohtani is unsurprising after the club announced he had strained the flexor pronator mass near the elbow of his pitching arm. The twoway star’s recovery from the strain requires him to abstain from throwing for four to six weeks, which covers most of the shortened 2020 season.
CARDS’ MOLINA SAYS HE TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 >>
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina says he’s one of the players on the team who tested positive for COVID-19.
The nine-time All-Star revealed his results in a Spanish-language Instagram post. Soon afterward, the Cardinals issued a release naming six of the players who have tested positive.
The others are infielders Paul DeJong, Edmundo Sosa and Rangel Ravelo along with pitchers Junior Fernandez and Kodi Whitley.
Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said Monday that seven players and six staff members had tested positive. At the time, Mozeliak said the people to test positive hadn’t been identified publicly because they had declined to have their names released.
The outbreak resulted in the postponement of the Cardinals’ scheduled three-game weekend series at Milwaukee as well as a four-game series with Detroit that was supposed to run Monday through Thursday. The Cardinals have played just three games this season and are hoping to return to action Friday hosting the Chicago Cubs.
INDIANS MANAGER FRANCONA UNDERGOING TESTS, RETURN UNKNOWN >>
Indians manager Terry Francona continues to undergo medical tests for a gastrointestinal issue, and there remains no clear timetable for when he’ll return to the team.
Francona has scheduled appointments with “a series of doctors” at the Cleveland Clinic this week, said team president Chris Antonetti, who is with the team in Cincinnati. Antonetti doesn’t know when Francona will be back and doesn’t believe he will be sidelined for a significant period.
NATIONALS ACTIVATE STAR OF SOTO FROM IL >>
Outfielder Juan Soto, who helped the Washington Nationals to their first World Series title in 2019, was activated from the injured list and was available to make his 2020 debut.
Soto, 21, has not played this season after he tested positive for COVID-19 on opening day.
CONGRESSIONAL GROUP WANTS LANDIS NAME PULLED FROM MVP PLAQUE >>
A group of House Democrats called for the name of former baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to be pulled off future Most Valuable Player plaques, an idea endorsed by several players who have won the award.
U.S. Reps. Gil Cisneros of California and Cedric Richmond of Louisiana sent a letter signed by 28 members of Congress to Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred and the Baseball Writers’ Association of America asking for action.
In late June, former NL MVPs Barry Larkin, Mike Schmidt and Terry Pendleton told The Associated Press they would favor removing Landis’ name from the trophy because of concerns over his handling of Black players.
Landis was hired as MLB’s first commissioner in 1920. No Blacks played in the big leagues during his time in office that ended with his death in late 1944.