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Late last August, Roman Anthony stormed into Yankee Stadium for the first time in his career and announced his presence in the most unmistakable manner possible:

The bomb, the bat flip, the body language; all there for the world to witness. In the moment, it felt less like a baseball game and more like a Coronation Day, with Anthony set to take his place as the latest in a long line of kings who have patrolled left field at Fenway Park over the generations. He was here, he was awesome, he was signed to an extension, and Yankee fans were going to have to spend the next decade watching highlights like this every time they faced the Red Sox.

But of course, baseball is never that simple. Since that seemingly momentous moment, the Red Sox have played the Yankees for a trio of three game series (including the playoffs), and Roman Anthony has missed eight of the nine games with three different injures, all sustained while simply swinging a bat.

The oblique injury he suffered on a swing that ended his season last September is well known and documented, so there’s really no need to dig further into that one, but given where we are with his latest injury, it’s probably a good time to review his comments after the upper back tweak that cost him the final two games of the Yankee series in April.

“A weird thing that happened on a swing.”

Here’s the problem: These weird things on a swing have now happened in three consecutive baseball months (September, April and May), and the only reason it might not happen in June is because he hasn’t been on the field yet.

So with the background covered, let’s dive deep into the astronomically frustrating timeline of Roman Anthony’s latest injury, starting on May 5th:

Two days later, he went on the IL:

Also on that day, Roman Anthony clarified the injury was to a ligament below his ring finger, and not to his wrist.

Five days later, the first real signs of the healing process progressing slower than everybody would’ve liked became evident:

But even at this point, they still weren’t ruling out the idea of Anthony coming off the IL in the minimum ten days. They just had to wait for his “grip strength” to get back to normal.

Three days after that, the splint/brace finally came off, and it seemed things were improving.

But it still took another week after that before there was any real improvement reported in his grip strength.

And it was another four days after that when he finally was able to take dry swings (swinging without hitting the ball).

Three days later, and something very bad happened when he was hitting off a tee (actually making contact with the ball).

Well, a few days went by, and he still wasn’t even able to dry swing the bat.

Now, here we are another week after that, and there’s still no real update. So my question is, what the hell happened on May 28th when Roman Anthony swung off a tee?

I see two general possibilities here — One concerning, and the other alarming. The first being he might have reinjured it while swinging and making contact with the ball, and we’re just not being told the details. That could result in a return date being pushed back weeks or even months depending on the extent of the damage.

But as bad as that sounds, it’s actually not the scenario that’s keeping me up at night and poisoning my joy. Instead, that honor goes to the possibility that a downright frightening whisper in the back of my brain could be right. Like a demon from the depths of the Earth I can’t outrun, it keeps telling me that Roman Anthony might just be a guy that breaks easily, recovers slowly, and it’s always going to be that way.

In other words, it’s asking the question: “What if Roman Anthony’s body can’t handle Roman Anthony’s elite, robust and violent swing?” That’s the scenario I fear the most, and I really, really don’t want to have to go down that road.

A bit of this fear slipped out in real time when Tim Healey first reported Anthony was going on the IL. Here’s my raw, emotional (over?)reaction.

Here we are a month later, and nothing that’s happened since makes me feel any better about this whole thing. In fact, each day the news doesn’t improve, it reminds me more and more of anther player I followed, covered, cherished, and wrote about for years here on SB Nation’s Rockies sister site, Purple Row: Troy Tulowitzki.

Exactly two years ago, I opened up about why baseball, the Rockies, and Troy Tulowitzki were such important figures in my life, and how I was able to let go of the last two. But now, I’m starting to wonder if time really is a flat circle.

Because you see, in all my years of watching this glorious sport, I have never been more confident that two guys I watched from the moment they began to rise through the minors were going to be all time great players. They of course are Roman Anthony and Troy Tulowitzki, and I’m sure you already see where this is going.

Last winter, there was a part of me that wanted to write around a dozen Roman Anthony articles fawning over how good I thought he was going to become based on the underlying metrics, his rapid rise, his make up, his eye at the plate, the quotes he gave me when he was in Worcester, and the general way stars and power develop in the sport.

I mean, when you look at something like the highest hard-hit percentage in the 2025 season (min. 150 batted balls) and see a 21-year-old atop a leaderboard like this, it’s just astounding:

• 60.3% – Roman Anthony
• 59.6% – Kyle Schwarber
• 58.7% – Shohei Ohtani
• 58.2% – Aaron Judge

But I really, really didn’t want to feel the smite of the baseball gods again (they got me good when I did it with Tulowitzki all those years ago) so I refrained. Instead, I just happily perused Baseball Savant for hours and figured I’d get to write those things this summer when reality reflected it.

Alas, here we are. Roman Anthony is injured and healing slowly again, the Red Sox are having a historically horrendous season, and just like Troy Tulowitzki and the Colorado Rockies, the Red Sox absolutely need Roman Anthony to be healthy and reach his peak.

Every night, we watch this sorry excuse of a lineup get outgunned by the rest of baseball, and all of New England keeps wondering how the club is going to fix it. Well, unfortunately, it’s much, much harder to repair a bad lineup than it was 20 years ago given the way teams understand value and lock up their young stars. This coupled with performance enhancing drugs being legislated out of the game earlier this century, and we’ve (rightfully) also pretty much extinguished most of the production and availability of guys that was once commonplace for guys in their mid to late 30s.

This is all to say, if the Red Sox want to have that absolute stud in their lineup the team can build around and the region can adore, their best chance of getting it is still already in their clubhouse. I’m not just talking about getting a good hitter, I’m talking about getting an outstanding hitter. The kind that makes impacts that ripple through the lineup each trip around.

Because Roman Anthony has that ceiling and the Red Sox have built the roster as if he’s guaranteed to get there, this has to work. If it doesn’t, and the reason it doesn’t is because the injury bug drags Roman Anthony into its lair, I can’t emphasize enough how much that’s going to suck!

Not only is Roman Anthony’s ceiling rare and unique, but he also seems remarkably aware of it. Take a look at this quote from just before his latest injury saga when asked what he thought of his season so far:

“Kind of a letdown, honestly… Short sample size, but I wasn’t where I wanted to be… When I’m at my best, my swing decisions are great… When you’re swinging at good pitches, you have a better chance of hitting the ball in the air, and you have a better chance of doing what you want to do.”

These are the comments of a (at the time) 21-year-old on pace for about 4.0 WAR in 2026. He hadn’t even begun to blossom yet this season, and he was still tracking to be better than about 95 percent of the players in the league (yes, even with the low batting average and throwing yips).

Again, the stratosphere is the limit here; and the good news is, that still hasn’t changed. What has changed is we’re increasingly confronted with the possibility that Roman Anthony might have the foundation of a skyscraper and the building material the first two little pigs used.

No matter how good he is, it doesn’t matter if he can’t consistently get out on the field, because much like a hurricane on your wedding day, brake failure at a stoplight, or a raccoon infestation in your attic, repetitive, nagging injuries will ruin everything great you’ve worked for. They are striaght up poison to a professional athlete, and they’re happening to the most important member of the Boston Red Sox.

So with that, I’ll leave you with one final thought: The best thing that can happen to the 2026 Red Sox for the long-term outlook of the franchise isn’t a miracle playoff run or even more people getting fired. Instead, it’s getting consistent, good news on the Roman Anthony injury front and having him close the season looking like the guy he was about to become when he annihilated that pitch in New York last year.

That certainly won’t solve all this team’s problems, but it will solve a bunch of them.

It’s raining in Chicago, y’all.

The weather has not been conducive to playing baseball most of the afternoon in Chicago. Here’s a forecast.

Looks decent at 10pm and it appears that MLB wants this game to happen and happen in front of 25 people. Stay tuned for updates.

The Rangers series started out so promising, but the Royals dropped the final two games of the series, including a 4-2 loss on Thursday afternoon. The game started after a delay of over two hours over concerns relating to local storms, although no rain ever fell at the stadium. The Royals managed just six hits and three walks, while falling to 28-40 on the year.

Royals starter Michael Wacha had some early struggles, but was able to save the taxed bullpen by giving the team seven solid innings. Brandon Nimmo got to him in the first with an RBI double to put the Rangers on the board. The Rangers put runners at the corners in the third, and former Royals catcher Elías Díaz lay down a perfect bunt that allowed Ezequiel Durán to scamper home from third. Corey Seager made it 3-0 Rangers with a solo home run to lead off the third.

Royals hitters battled back against Rangers starter Kumar Rocker. They loaded the bases in the third inning, but Michael Massey grounded into a double play. The twin killing did bring home Kansas City’s first run of the game, and Kameron Misner picked him up with an RBI single, his first hit since being called up. But Nick Loftin grounded out to end the threat.

The Royals chased Rocker out of the game in the fifth with a Bobby Witt Jr. single, but rookie reliever Robbie Ahlstrom quickly ended the inning. In the sixth, Evan Carter singled home another run to make it 4-2, Rangers.

Beck Way provided two solid shutout innings with four strikeouts, a sorely-needed performance for this bullpen. The Royals dropped five of their six games to the Rangers this year, getting outscored 36-21.

The Royals continue the homestand by hosting the Houston Astros, starting on Friday night.

The Texas Rangers scored four runs while the Kansas City Royals scored two runs.

Methinks the Rangers were feeling a tad aggrieved today with the Royals making the call to delay the game for more than two hours to protect their depleted pitching staff. Despite the sun staying out the entire time, the thought of a potential shower caused KC to halt the game before it even began because they couldn’t afford to have their starter exit early after a delay.

It never rained, meaning we all sat around waiting for no reason. That’s probably especially annoying for the Rangers as they’re in the midst of a stretch where they’re playing 23 games over the next 24 days and are in the middle of a road trip with a flight to catch.

Perhaps peeved, the Rangers scored a run apiece in each of the first three innings with some aggressive sends on the bases. That aggressiveness was a mixed bag as, by the end of the game, three Rangers were thrown out trying to take an extra base at third base.

Though they couldn’t break through with a big inning to perhaps get today’s starter Michael Wacha out of the game early, they did pressure the Royals with 11 hits overall on the day and ultimately held the Royals to just two runs while never trailing.

Despite those two KC runs, the Rangers also erased a few threats from they Royals by turning three double plays. Texas got 4.1 scoreless innings from the bullpen — including two more hitless innings from Jacob Latz, who struck out three — with starter Kumar Rocker lifted after 4.2 innings despite being at just 83 pitches as they decided to avoid letting him face the Royals’ middle-of-the-order left-handed hitters a third time in a one run game at the time.

With the win, the Rangers claimed their fourth series in a row to, yes, once again reach .500. Now the new goal is getting over the hump.

Player of the Game: A day after a miserable game for Corey Seager, the team’s sputtering superstar contributed a couple of hits, including a third inning solo home run for Texas’ third run.

Seager also singled and scored on a double by Brandon Nimmo for the game’s first run in the top of the first inning. Seager isn’t very swift these days, and wasn’t even running very hard, so it was an aggressive send even as KC right fielder Lane Thomas kind of kicked the ball around in the corner.

For his trouble, Seager got smacked in the face on a collision with catcher Carter Jensen at the plate. Luckily, he stayed in the game and the Rangers finished off another series win in June.

Up Next: After a later than expected end to their getaway game, the Rangers jet off to Boston to open a series against the Red Sox on the east coast beginning tomorrow night. RHP Jack Leiter is expected to make the start for Texas opposite RHP Sonny Gray for Boston.

The Friday evening first pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 6:10 pm CDT and will be aired via the Rangers Sports Network or locally on CW33.

Is this game going to happen? Usually I can’t wait for the game, but as I noted in the preview, this has been the least … any positive adjective I can conjure up series so far. Maybe this game gets postponed due to weather? If it doesn’t, maybe the Braves can actually beat the White Sox?

Statcast graphic? Sure, why not.

It was arguably the worst loss of the season, with the San Diego Padres losing the second game of the Cincinnati Reds series in the ugliest way possible. Squandering multiple opportunities, adding to their many baserunning gaffs, swinging through pitches in the middle of the zone, and Manny Machado continuing his league-worst hitting.

They followed that with a win in the third and final game of the series. Fernando Tatis Jr. and newcomer Samad Taylor have sparked the team in recent games and highlighted that in the eighth and ninth innings of the game. Taylor, Jase Bowen, and most recently, Will Wagner, have combined to give the offense a boost that hasn’t always translated into wins but has certainly provided some excitement.

The series against the New York Mets highlighted how bad the offense has become. And not just the offense. The pitching, baserunning and defense have all been shaky in recent weeks. With everyone placing so much attention on the inept offense, the rest of their poor play has largely gone unaddressed.

Since May 27, the starters have supplied three quality starts, with the latest in the series finale versus the Reds. Michael King went 6.2 innings with three runs allowed (all on home runs) and seven hits. He was the first starter to go six or more innings with only three or fewer runs allowed since Walker Buehler on June 2.

The bullpen has been great at times, but has been overworked with the short performances by the starters. The pressure placed on them has resulted in a 3.90 ERA, ninth best in MLB. Closer Mason Miller hasn’t been used as a closer much and has been trying to keep the deficit the same or to buy time for the offense.

Playing those two losing teams over the past six games, the Padres salvaged a home stand split and now have a 35-32 record, good for second place in the NL West and 7.5 games behind LA. They cling to the last Wild Card spot by a half game.

Freddy Fermin

The Padres lead catcher had the worst OPS in baseball before hitting back-t0-back-to-back home runs over three days. He added a double and a single to have seven RBI in that span and is hitting .263 over the past seven games. With backup Rodolfo Duran hitting .103 in 29 at-bats and Luis Campusano not yet on his rehab assignment, Fermin needs to be a contributor at the bottom of the lineup.

Samad Taylor, Jase Bowen, and Will Wagner

With the loss of Ramón Laureano, the release of Nick Castellanos, and paternity leave for shortstop Xander Bogaerts, the three players who were brought up to fill in are distinguishing themselves in a short sample size.

Taylor, 27, has had some brief cameos with two other teams over the past three seasons. He is fast, aggressive on the base paths, and knows how to bunt. Taylor has been referred to as the spark plug since his arrival. His enthusiasm and exuberance are noticeable. He also has a double, three walks, five RBI, and two stolent bases in the four games he has played.

Bowen, 25, is making his major league debut and is being used as a pinch hitter, a pinch runner, and an occasional defensive replacement while he gets his feet under him.

Wagner, 27, was acquired last season and had a brief cameo with the team at the end of the year. He started this year injured, with an oblique strain, and came back to rehab with El Paso. He came off the IL on May 7 and has been used as a DH in his two games played. His left-handed bat has had more major league experience than bench player Sung-Mun Song and he has a career .265 average. Wagner can play all infield positions besides shortstop and has significant DH experience.

It would not be a surprise to see Wagner staying and Bowen sent down when Bogaerts rejoins the team Friday in Baltimore.

Fernando Tatis Jr.

Tatis has been hitting and got his first home run at Petco Park in the finale of the Reds series. It was the game-winning, walk-off hit that sent the Padres on their road trip in a happier frame of mind. Over his past 15 games, Tatis has a .381/.418/.524 batting line with two home runs and five RBI. The offense is a marked improvement, but his base running is leaving a lot to be desired. He was thrown out again on Tuesday and is currently 15-for-23 on stolen base attempts. The eye test indicates that Tatis is making bad decisions and might be trying too hard to make something happen.

Manny Machado

Watching Machado swing a bat these days is painful. He is missing fast balls right down the middle of the plate, fouling off pitches in his hitting zone and just watching fat pitches go by. It is becoming concerning that he has not been able to pull out of this slump. His .172 batting average is the worst in baseball. He isn’t getting on base either with an OBP of .253 with 27 walks in 238 at-bats.

His K rate is 22.6%, up from 19.3% in 2025 but his chase rate is at an all-time high (31.2%). His batted-ball stats show that he is making more weak contact with more ground balls than previously in his career. Machado has achknowledged that he his still working to fix whatever the issue is that has caused this season-long slump but there is the inevitable conversation regarding age that has popped up around baseball.

At 33-years-old, it is to be expected that his bat speed is dropping but his home runs sit at 11 and is about average for this time in the season. He is hitting the four-seam fastball the best of all the pitches he has seeen but the sinker, slider and sweeper are all getting by him at a high rate.

Jackson Merrill

The centerfielder has had two hits in each of the past two games, including a home run, and has begun to get opposite field hits again. He has four RBI for June after having only six RBI for the whole month of May. His batting average is up to .207.

Padres sign Nick Pratto

Former No. 1 draft pick of the Kansas City Royals, first baseman Nick Pratto, signed a minor league deal with the Padres this week. He was released by the Texas Rangers on Tuesday and signed with the Padres on Wednesday. Pratto played for the Royals in 2022 and 2023 but has been in the Royals and Rangers minor leagues since then.

A player who spent the first month of the season in the Rangers development program, Pratto has power but a history of swing-and-miss in his career. He was assigned to the El Paso Chihuahuas and will provide depth at first base.

Injury updates

RHP Matt Waldron (brachialis injury) has begun working his way back and threw a live BP on Tuesday. He begins a rehab assignment this weekend.

RHP Germán Márquez has had two starts with Triple-A El Paso and has not allowed a run in 6.1 innings of work.

DH Miguel Andujar has not gone on the injured list this season but has twice dealt with a reoccurence of a hamstring issue he has had throughout his career. In both instances of aggravating his left hamstring, Andujar has been day-to-day while pinch hitting off the bench.

Jake Cronenworth has been with the team during the last week and is feeling better but has no timeline for a rehab assignment yet.

Luis Campsano reported having no lingering issues with his broken toe but has yet to begin a rehab assignment. He has been on the injured list since May 7.

Personally, I hate the series in Baltimore every year about as much as Andrés Muñoz. The weather sucks no matter what time of year it is, the Mariners never seem to score many runs (especially when George Kirby is on the mound for some reason), the injury bug always seems to bite in Oriole Park specifically, and the constant monotone let’s-go-O’s chant gives me a headache by the third inning. And this year it’s four games? Get the entire out of here. Thankfully this is the last game of this curséd series.

Lineups:

Happy news: Colt Emerson returns to the Mariners lineup for the first time since Detroit.

Roster moves:

A new face has joined the bullpen shuffle after Domingo Gonzalez’s rough outing yesterday, with the Mariners selecting righty Michael Rucker. Read more here.

Also, in case you missed it, Miles Mastrobuoni is up with the team as Matt Brash went on the IL with Ryan Bliss returning to Tacoma. It’s a rough shake for Bliss, who was steady in his short stint with the Mariners, but with J.P. Crawford on the shelf the Mariners need Mastro’s positional flexibility.

Injury updates:

Positive news on J.P. Crawford; he wasn’t even able to hold a bat as of a couple days ago, so this is an improvement.

The news on Matt Brash isn’t as good. Dan Wilson wouldn’t give a timetable for his injury, saying just that he’ll likely be down “longer” than his last stay on the IL with a similar injury, when he was down for 18 days. Brash has flown back to Seattle for further evaluation.

No real update on Brendan Donovan, who remains in Arizona rehabbing at the Mariners complex.

Today’s game information:

Reminder that today’s game is on ESPN.

Game time: 4:05 PT

TV: ESPN, with Kevin Brown, David Ross, Adam Ottovino and Buster Olney

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Gary Hill Jr. and Shannon Drayer

I told you this team could still hit. I told you this team still had good hitters.

And I’m telling you right now — and you can come back to this recap if I’m right, or if I’m wrong — that the 2026 Cubs are going to start winning again and still make a run at a postseason berth.

Seiya Suzuki smacked a grand slam and Alex Bregman and Carson Kelly also homered. The Cubs pounded out 10 hits and defeated the Rockies 9-3. The nine runs were as many as they’d scored in their previous four games combined, three of which were defeats.

This one started out like Wednesday evening’s game. The first nine Cubs went down in order. Meanwhile, Rockies catcher Brett Sullivan homered in the third to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead. Thoughts of “Didn’t we see this game yesterday?” filled my head.

While all that was going on, Pete Crow-Armstrong made yet another catch that probably will be in the five-star category [VIDEO].

After that, the Cubs offense got going. PCA began the fourth inning with a single and stole second [VIDEO].

Everyone held their breath for a bit after that, because it looked like PCA got banged up a bit on the play. Fortunately, he was fine.

One out later, Michael Busch singled, with PCA stopping at third. Ian Happ walked to load the bases.

Then Seiya Suzuki said “see ya” to a baseball [VIDEO].

For Suzuki, that was his third home run already this month. More from BCB’s JohnW53:

Suzuki’s grand slam, the third of his career, was the Cubs’ second this season. Moises Ballesteros did it on April 27 at San Diego. That one also put the Cubs in front, 5-3, but they lost, 9-7.

The Cubs hit five last year, the last by Suzuki on Sept. 26 at home vs. the Cardinals. They hit six in 2024 and have hit 339 in the regular season during the Modern Era (began 1901) and 363 since 1876, first year of the National League.

Suzuki’s today was the 154th of the 363 on the road. Two of the previous ones were at Coors Field, by Henry Rodriguez in 1998 and Sammy Sosa in 2002. This was the Cubs’ 71st game at Coors since Sosa did it on Aug. 11, 2002.

That seemed to awaken a Cubs dugout that had looked morose for most of this series. The Rockies scored a run in the bottom of the fourth off Edward Cabrera to cut the lead to 4-2, but the Cubs extended the lead in the fifth.

Dansby Swanson led off with a walk and stole second. PCA grounded out, but Alex Bregman followed with a walk. This single by Busch made it 5-2 [VIDEO].

Bregman took third on that hit, and this sac fly by Happ made it 6-2 Cubs [VIDEO].

A weird play happened in the top of the sixth. Nico Hoerner led off with a single. Then Moisés Ballesteros hit a ball that clearly hit behind him in the batter’s box and then hit him in the leg. That’s a foul ball.

But that’s not what the umpires called [VIDEO].

The Rockies threw the ball to second and first while Hoerner and Ballesteros didn’t move — because the ball was clearly foul. The umpires let the double play stand, as I do not think those plays are reviewable, even though Jim Deshaies said on the broadcast that they should have asked for a crew chief review. Craig Counsell got himself tossed on that play, his second ejection of the year. When the video is reviewed, the umpires will learn that they got it wrong. Fortunately, this had no impact on the final score.

Cabrera was removed with one out in the bottom of the sixth, having allowed five hits and two runs, with five strikeouts, a much better outing than the one last Friday against the Giants. The Cubs got two pretty good starting pitcher outings at Coors Field from Cabrera and Shōta Imanaga, and that is, I think, a good sign going forward. Hoby Milner entered and got the second out, then gave up a couple of hits and Phil Maton was summoned to get out of the jam.

This move did not fill me with confidence. But Maton struck out Ezequiel Tovar to end the inning [VIDEO].

The Cubs extended the lead to 8-2 in the seventh. With one out, PCA hit a ball that for most people would be a single, but he hustled it into a double. That wound up not mattering when Bregman launched one [VIDEO].

The homer, Bregman’s sixth, was his first since May 31 and only his second since May 12. And it went a long way [VIDEO].

The ninth and final Cubs run scored on another homer, a solo shot by Carson Kelly in the eighth [VIDEO].

The long ball was Kelly’s first since April 18, a span of 34 games and 121 plate appearances. Overall Kelly’s still hitting pretty well, but perhaps this will turn the power switch back on for him.

Tyler Ferguson, recalled because Trent Thornton hit the paternity list this week, finished up. Sullivan homered off Ferguson, his second of the game, but Ferguson finished up with this strikeout [VIDEO].

Since a player can spend a maximum of three days on the paternity list, Thornton, who went on the list before Tuesday’s game, will likely return Friday, with Ferguson heading back to Triple-A Iowa.

One more thing of amusement in this game: Moisés Ballesteros stole a base. No, I am not making that up. He walked with two out in the fourth and then took off:

Ballesteros had a few steals in the minors — including five last year at Iowa — but that was his first steal attempt in the big leagues. Might be his last, who knows? Hope they got the base for him.

As I said, I believe this team still has good hitters. They showed signs of life in this game. Let’s hope that continues. There are still 93 games remaining. More on the Cubs’ big bat day from John:

Carson Kelly’s homer, the Cubs’ third of the day, ended a streak of 41 games in which the Cubs had not hit more than two home runs, since smacking three in a 12-4 loss to the Dodgers at Los Angeles on April 25.

The 41-game drought was their third longest of its kind since 2000.  The longest was 54 games, in 2010, followed by 44 in 2022.

The Cubs have hit three homers this year in six games, two homers in 16, one homer in 23 and none in 19.

The Cubs will open a three-game series in San Francisco Friday. I’ll be attending these games if anyone from here is around. Friday’s starter for the Cubs is TBD — perhaps Javier Assad? — and Landen Roupp will start for the Giants. Game time Friday is 9:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ offense took another major hit this week.

Already without shortstop Konnor Griffin due to a forearm injury, the middle of the order will lose one of baseball’s lone 30/30 candidates for the foreseeable future.

On Wednesday, the Pirates placed center fielder Oneil Cruz on the 10-day injured list. 

Cruz was scratched from the lineup on Tuesday due to recurrent left-hand discomfort and was initially viewed as only day-to-day.

Additional tests revealed that Cruz is suffering from non-displaced fractures in his fourth and fifth metacarpals in his left hand.

It’s a significant loss for the Pirates and their star center fielder, who is playing the best of his career.

Cruz ranks second in the National League in steals (21), tied for fifth in runs scored (45), and seventh in RBI (44).

Kevin Gorman of the TRIB reported that Cruz is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks. 

Cruz was seen in the dugout on the TV broadcast with a cast on his hand. Cruz suffered the injury during the Pirates’ road series against the Atlanta Braves.

Through 64 games, Cruz is slashing .264/.350/.472 with 10 doubles and 14 home runs.

The Pirates recalled Billy Cook to replace Cruz on the 26-man roster, but recalled outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez on Thursday.

Valdez made his MLB debut on May 22 and has hit 13 home runs in Triple-A Indianapolis over 192 at-bats. 

The 22-year-old may see significant playing time with Cruz out and profiles best defensively in right. Pittsburgh opted to recall Valdez over Jhostynxon Garcia, who can play all three outfield positions and was sent back to Triple-A earlier this week.

Valdez had two hits in 16 at-bats, both home runs, in his first stint with the Pirates in May. To make room on the roster, the Pirates transferred Davis Wendzel to Indianapolis. 

Overcoming Cruz’s absence will be a challenge as the Pirates (34-32) fight for a wild card in the National League. 

The Pirates are going to need Valdez, Jake Mangum, and other lesser-established players to step up and keep the Pirates in the running until Cruz comes back.