Blue Jays
Left fielder Melky Cabrera and right-hander Chad Jenkins had successful surgeries Monday to repair broken bones in their right hands. Cabrera fractured his pinkie finger while sliding into first base against the Red Sox; Jenkins fractured his fifth metacarpal while shagging balls during batting practice in Tampa Bay. Both players will miss the rest of the regular season but are expected to make a full recovery. The rehab schedule for each player is supposed to be completed well before the preparations for next year’s spring training are set to begin in December.
Orioles
The final out of Tampa Bay’s 11-inning, 7-5 loss last week was a dead-ball strikeout, as Logan Forsythe swung and missed at a third strike from Baltimore reliever Andrew Miller that hit him in the thigh. When a batter swings at a pitch that hits him, the ball is dead, the pitch is a strike and no runner is allowed to advance. At first, home-plate umpire Greg Gibson did not rule that the pitch had hit Forsythe, and the pitch bounded away from catcher Nick Hundley to the backstop. Hundley, too busy arguing that the pitch had hit Forsythe to retrieve the ball, allowed Sean Rodriguez to score from second base and Forsythe to advance to first on the apparent dropped strike three. But after the dust settled, the umpires ruled that Forsythe had indeed swung and been hit by the pitch, resulting in a game-ending strikeout.
Rays
David DeJesus hit the fourth inside-the-park home run of his career in the fourth inning of the Rays’ series finale against the Orioles last week. With two outs and no one on base, DeJesus sliced what looked like a routine fly ball into left-center field. As left fielder Alejandro De Aza reached out to make the catch, center fielder David Lough ran straight into his glove arm, sending the ball flying all the way from the gap into the left-field corner. It was the Rays’ 13th inside-the-park home run in franchise history.
Red Sox
For the first time since 1972, the Red Sox will open their season without a designated hitter in 2015, playing three games in Philadelphia from April 6-9. The Red Sox will play NL East teams for their interleague schedule in 2015. There will be a four-game home-and-home series with the Braves, which will start in Boston on June 15-16 before continuing on to Atlanta for the next two days.
Yankees
Reliever Dellin Betances has compiled a 1.41 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 83 innings in his first full season in the majors. His 63 outings out of the bullpen lead the team. Betances is only seven strikeouts away from making franchise history as he takes aim at Mariano Rivera’s Yankees reliever single-season strikeout record. Rivera fanned 130 batters in 107 innings in 1996.
Compiled by Rachel Lister from wire reports.
