Category: Baseball

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Luis García Jr. has adapted well to life in the Bronx, with a 124 wRC+ before Wednesday’s game and solid play at the cold corner. Can he give the Yankees a bit more defensive versatility, though? Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton are all due back at some point, and Paul Goldschmidt and, of course, Ben Rice, remain part of the first base picture. Can García move around the infield? Here’s manager Aaron Boone’s answer: “You watch him, and I feel like he’s got real natural actions to me,” he said. “He’s got a good arm, so I don’t know. We’ll see. I don’t really have any plans to do that right now, but just watching him work and move and things like that, I feel like he could.”

ESPN | Kiley McDaniel: ESPN updated every team’s top 10 prospects list after the draft and the trade deadline, and the Yankees welcomed a new member to the top 10: right fielder Wilberson De Peña. George Lombard Jr., Dax Kilby, and Carlos Lagrange remain the top three, but Spencer Jones displaced Elmer Rodríguez as No. 4. For what it’s worth, McDaniel said that he ‘loved their top two picks in the draft (Dietz and Duncan), who added some upside to the system, while Matic and De Pena both emerged, adding even more.’

The Athletic | Evan Drellich: As you probably know by now, the Yankees were valued at $10 billion amid Apollo Sports Capital’s $2.6 billion investment announced this week. The valuation certainly comes at an interesting time, as owners and players seem destined to go into lockout mode in just a few months. That has sparked a debate, brought up by Drellich: is the sport blossoming or declining?

Seattle Sports at Mynorthwest.com | Brent Stecker: Rob Refsnyder, who was released by the Seattle Mariners earlier this month to accommodate new deadline acquisition Taylor Ward, might be a retired player at this point. While it hasn’t been confirmed yet, we did learn that he turned down an offer to join the Houston Astros.

Brian McTaggart, an Astros beat writer, said Refsnyder and Houston were “close” to a deal but that he “heard (Refsnyder) retired instead.” The 35-year-old played for the Yankees between 2015 and 2017 after being drafted and developed by the Bombers.

If you build it, the Phillies will come: Tracing their ‘Field of Dreams' ties originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

If you build it, the Phillies will come.

That’s the quote, right?

On Thursday, the Phillies will play the Minnesota Twins at the Field of Dreams site in Dyersville, Iowa, in the third edition of MLB’s showcase game. First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Netflix, marking the first game played there since August 2022, when the Cubs and Reds faced off.

There is no better backdrop in the sport. A big-league field tucked into the Iowa corn, built around a movie that leans into baseball’s past, gives the Phillies a different kind of stage as they close in on the final stretch of their season.

It also makes sense that the Phillies are one of the teams featured.

Their connections run through the 1989 film, the state of Iowa and even a few other baseball movies over the years.

So before the Phillies walk through the corn, here is how they connect to the Field of Dreams.

THROWBACK THREADS FROM FORGETTABLE YEARS

The Phillies will wear uniforms from a much different time in franchise history.

They will don their road grays from 1939 to 1941, featuring the red Phillies script across the chest, navy and red piping and the baseball centennial patch on the sleeve, with the years 1839-1939. They will pair them with the navy cap and red block P from that era.

The uniforms are sharp.

The baseball was not.

Here were the Phillies’ records during that three-year stretch:

1939 — 45-106

1940 — 50-103

1941 — 43-111

The 1941 team lost the most games in franchise history, and it did so in a 154-game season.

That period was so rough that Hugh Mulcahy, the Phillies’ ace at the time, earned the nickname “Losing Pitcher,” even though he made the All-Star team. Mulcahy also became the first major leaguer drafted into the military ahead of World War II.

So yes, the Phillies will look good Thursday.

The era they are honoring looked a lot better on a uniform than it did in the standings.

A LEADING FIGURE

When Field of Dreams hit theaters in 1989 and became a national phenomenon, people began flocking to Dyersville to visit the movie set and the field.

That gave the area a chance to build something bigger around the film.

One of the people who helped was a former Phillie.

Joe Hoerner, a 14-year major-league veteran who pitched from 1963 to 1977, grew up on a 250-acre farm in Dubuque, Iowa, roughly 20 miles from Dyersville. He was living in St. Louis when the movie took off, but his connection to the area made him a key figure in the Field of Dreams’ baseball life after the film.

Hoerner helped organize celebrity exhibitions that brought fans to the site and raised money for local charities. He was instrumental in lining up former players and baseball legends to come to Dyersville, helping build a tradition of bringing real games and real baseball figures to a place that already felt magical.

His Phillies connection is significant, too.

Hoerner was part of the infamous seven-player trade that sent Hall of Famer Dick Allen to St. Louis in exchange for a package headlined by Hoerner, Tim McCarver and Curt Flood.

Flood, of course, never reported to Philadelphia. He challenged baseball’s reserve clause, a fight that helped pave the road toward free agency.

Hoerner did pitch well for the Phillies. He made his only All-Star team with them in 1970, then followed it with a strong 1971 season, posting a 1.97 ERA. That remains one of the lowest single-season ERAs by a Phillies pitcher with at least 70 innings since 1920.

Long before MLB brought regular-season games to Dyersville, a former Phillie helped keep baseball coming back to the corn.

MOONLIGHTS

The Phillies even have their own Moonlight Graham thread. Graham appeared in one major-league game for the 1905 New York Giants but never came to the plate, a brief baseball life later turned into one of Field of Dreams’ most memorable storylines.

The Phillies’ version is the phantom ballplayer — someone who reaches an active major-league roster but never gets into a game.

Tim Gradoville, Tim Lahey, Jeff Singer and Will Toffey all wore a Phillies uniform, reached the roster and waited for a moment that never came. It is not exactly walking out of the corn for one lost at-bat, but it carries the same ache: getting close enough to touch the dream without ever getting into the box.

They’ll be in attendance and be honored during the pregame festivities.

PHILLIES ON FILM

One of the most famous baseball movies ever has long been connected to a former Phillie.

The Natural is widely thought to have been inspired, at least in part, by Eddie Waitkus.

In the film, Roy Hobbs, played by Robert Redford, is a teenage phenom whose career is derailed when Harriet Bird, a woman obsessed with athletes, lures him to a hotel room and shoots him.

The real-life Waitkus story was also terrifying.

In 1949, Waitkus was in the middle of an All-Star season in his first year with the Phillies, batting .306. On June 14, Ruth Ann Steinhagen, a fan who had become obsessed with him, bribed a hotel bellboy to deliver him a note. She lured him to her room, saying there was a surprise, then shot him with a rifle.

The bullet missed his heart but punctured his lung.

Waitkus survived and returned to baseball the next season.

That is not exactly the same as a Phillie appearing in a movie, but a few have.

Mike Schmidt made a cameo in the 1987 film Slow Inning. Mitch Williams appeared in 1994’s The Scout. John Kruk played “Lanz” in The Fan, the 1996 movie starring Wesley Snipes and Robert De Niro.

That movie also featured an obsessed fan. This time, De Niro’s character, Gil Renard, stabs Kruk’s character, who had little to do with the main conflict.

Strange stuff.

Kruk later appeared in The Sandlot 2, too.

Any more Phillies cameos would be pretty corny, but there is also a now-Phillie who appeared in The Simpsons.

Don Mattingly guest starred as himself in Season 3 in 1992, in an episode that featured several major leaguers recruited by Mr. Burns to play on his softball team. In the episode, Burns repeatedly tells Mattingly to shave his sideburns, even though they do not exist.

That gag played off Mattingly’s real-life feud with the Yankees during his playing days over the team’s clean-cut policy.

BETWEEN THE LINES AND THE CORN

So how do the Phillies match up between the lines, and the corn, on Thursday?

The Field of Dreams park resembles the dimensions of old Comiskey Park, now Rate Field in Chicago. But without upper decks and with the way the air moves through the open site, the ballpark has played hitter-friendly.

In the first Field of Dreams game in 2021 between the Yankees and White Sox, the teams combined for eight home runs. The ball can carry there, even with 335 feet down the lines, much deeper than the movie field.

That might not bode well for Aaron Nola, who has surrendered a league-leading 29 homers this season.

There is one catch.

Part of what has kept Nola from looking more like his old self at times has been the ABS system, and there will be no automatic balls and strikes in Dyersville. Interesting, and controversial enough.

Nola has also been better lately.

The Phillies’ offense, which has struggled mightily in recent weeks, will face Twins right-hander Taj Bradley, who has not allowed a homer in his last three starts.

The event should be entertaining. It should be different. It should give the Phillies one of the coolest settings of their season.

But they also need to get moving in the right direction again.

Maybe that starts in heaven.

Correction: Iowa.

We don’t often talk about “trap games” – games against a weaker opponent that a team might overlook because of the ones immediately preceding or following it – in baseball the way we might in college basketball or football. Between the inherent variability from game to game, the sheer volume of games in a season, and the relative parity across the league, it’s hard to have “trap games” or even trap series in the sport. But if there were going to be a trap game or series for the D-Backs, it would have been this one. They’re coming off consecutive series against two high-powered divisional rivals and at the end of a season-long homestand of ten games. It’s not entirely surprising that they might be a little tired, both emotionally and physically. While last night’s loss was understandable as an admirable performance from a pitcher who has done very well against the D-Backs this season, today’s loss was a whole other level of frustration.

Merrill Kelly, coming off one of his best starts of the year with five innings of no-hit ball against the mighty Dodgers and continuing a string of solid performances that stretch back to the end of June, looked much more like the vulnerable pitcher from the beginning of the season. The velocity on his entire arsenal was down a couple of ticks and he clearly didn’t have his usual level of command that’s been a staple of Kelly’s game. He had just two strikeouts for the afternoon with three walks in five innings. It’s hard not to suspect that his cramps from his last start couldn’t have had an effect on how he pitched today. After a clean first inning, Kelly labored through the second with the first three batters reaching on a walk and a pair of singles, but he rebounded to retire the next two batters to nearly escape the jam. Instead, after three bad misses to get to a 3-1 count against the number nine batter Brett Sullivan, Kelly placed a four-seam fastball at the very bottom of the zone that Sullivan somehow doinked off the foul pole for a three-run homer. The fourth inning was another struggle as Kelly gave up a leadoff walk and then left a lifeless changeup in the middle of the zone that Zac Veen deposited into the outfield pool.

Still, despite Kelly’s struggles, watching the D-Backs offense this afternoon was actually even more painful. It’s one thing to simply get shut down by the opposing pitcher(s), but squandering opportunity after opportunity was excruciating as a fan. The D-Backs earned a season-high 10 walks against just three strikeouts on the afternoon to go along with 11 hits, but only managed to score four runs. That combination isn’t typical, but they did have a similar scoreline against these same Rockies back at the end of May when they had eight walks and scored just two runs. But it’s a little more understandable when you see that the team went just 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left a whopping 15 runners on base for the game. Clearly, they had no problem creating traffic on the bases against starter Ryan Feltner, but they found nearly every way possible to work themselves out of scoring opportunities. There was the ubiquitous double play that ended a pair of threats, but there were too many poor at bats with the bases loaded – from Nolan Arenado’s first-pitch weak grounder in the fifth to Ryan Waldschmidt’s inning-ending double play in the seventh – for the D-Backs to really get themselves back into the game.

In a season that will likely again be decided by the slimmest of margins, it’s particularly frustrating to watch the team squander an opportunity – no matter how small. Yes, I know, a couple of bad losses to a lesser team aren’t cause for panic on the season. Good teams lose to bad ones all the time. Good pitchers have bad days while bad pitchers have good ones. But losing bankable, winnable games against opponents like this when the standings are this tight feels much more dramatic than it actually is. We just have to hope the team doesn’t lose focus and comes back after the off day tomorrow in Atlanta to show exactly how formidable they can be.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman tracked Royals hitter Isaac Collins’ fly ball through foul territory to just outside the visiting dugout at Dodger Stadium.

He had a plan. With one out in the top of the eighth inning, Freeman was going to lean over the rail to make the catch.

He shuffled, shifted his weight, and the ground disappeared out from under him.

“Obviously there was no rail,” a sore but apparently not seriously injured Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 4-2 win against the Royals.

He pitched sideways, practically clearing the first set of steps and landing on the second flight. Freeman braced himself on his right side, which took the brunt of the impact. But thanks to the angle of the steps, he never hit his head, he said.

“Kneecaps are sore, shoulder is sore, hand is sore, wrist is sore,” Freeman said. “I mean, I fell. But I’m in good spirits. I’ve already cold tubbed. I’ve done everything I needed to do to put myself in a position to be able to hopefully play [Thursday].”

Manager Dave Roberts described Freeman’s status as “day to day” and noted that he’d already planned to give him a day off Friday, the second game of a four-game series against the Brewers. The Dodgers will monitor how Freeman is feeling Thursday morning.

“I think that we really dodged the bullet,” Roberts said. Freeman did not undergo any imaging on his various aches and pains, although he said head athletic trainer Thomas Albert asked if he felt like he needed any.

“I said, ‘Do you want to do a whole-body X-ray?’” Freeman recounted. “And he was like, ‘We can.’ But no, I’m OK.”

Read more:Eric Lauer shows his value as Dodgers sweep the Royals

Freeman was sore immediately after the fall but finished that half inning in the field. He said after the adrenaline wore off, he motioned to the dugout that he might need a pinch-hitter in the bottom half of the eighth. He was due up first.

Utility player Tommy Edman took the at-bat for him, and Kiké Hernández replaced him at first in the top of the ninth.

It wasn’t the first time Freeman has taken a tumble chasing after a foul ball, but he estimated the last time was about a decade ago, with the Braves in Arizona before they extended the netting.

“Actually went down probably like 10 feet,” Freeman said. “I hit seats and everything. So not my first time.

“I didn’t catch that one either.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Brent Headrick did not expect this. He did not envision his role being so significant.

Just one pitcher, left-handed reliever Mason Fluharty of the Blue Jays, has appeared in more games (63) than Headrick (62), and Fluharty likely won’t be asked to pitch into October like Headrick.

“If someone said you would have 60 appearances [at this point], I would say you’re crazy,” the lefty said Wednesday before pitching a scoreless eighth inning in the Yankees’ 10-5 win over the Mariners in The Bronx. “It’s awesome. It’s been a wild year, but it’s been a lot of fun.”

The Yankees reliever now has 52 scoreless outings this year, the most in MLB and a franchise record through 120 games. He’s showing no signs of slowing down, allowing three earned runs in his past 30 innings of work. On the season, he has a 1.47 ERA across 61 ¹/₃ innings.

Headrick could set a Yankees record for most pitching appearances in a season. Paul Quantrill owns the No. 1 spot (86) in 2004, and Scott Proctor is No. 2 (83) in 2006. Headrick is on pace to tie Proctor.

“He’s put in the work, the training, that starts in earnest in the winter. A lot of time your winter program sets you up for success during the year. He certainly put in the work,” manager Aaron Boone said before Wednesday night’s win. “Even though he has worked a lot, we at the same time have tried to protect him in certain situations of being disciplined on certain days, of, ‘You’re not available today.’ So [we’re] trying to avoid those situations where he’s too spent and you have to recover too much.

“Ideally you have a slightly less games/innings projection, but we haven’t been afforded that luxury necessarily this year, and he’s taken that on well.”

Headrick said he feels good and isn’t concerned by the heavy workload. He prepared for this season — the first year of his career when he knew he would be a reliever — differently. The Yankees gave him a higher-intensity and higher-frequency workout plan to prepare him for shorter outings after he was often used for multiple innings last season.

“I tried to train with more bursts more often,” he said. “So I’m not building up to 50, 60 pitches like I would as a starter in the offseason. Now I build up to 15 or 20, and do it more often. You’re not throwing as many volume bullpens, so you can throw more often and feel good.”

It has been a remarkable rise for the 28-year-old. A ninth-round pick in 2019, he was put on waivers in February 2025 and picked up by the Yankees. When he arrived in Tampa, the Yankees told him they saw the southpaw’s future in the bullpen. He has since taken off.

Scattered throughout the year, in a thin bullpen that could’ve used an upgrade at the trade deadline but didn’t get one, the Yankees have uncovered some success with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre relievers.

Yerry De los Santos has pitched to a 1.00 ERA across six appearances.

For Kervin Castro, it was a 1.42 ERA in five appearances.

Until a dud in his last appearance before getting optioned, Angel Chivilli’s ERA sat at 0.57.

Enter Bradley Hanner, called up Tuesday after Castro landed on the injured list and tasked with becoming the next Yankees discovery.

A 27-year-old yet to make his MLB debut, Hanner was drafted in 2019 in the 21st round, which no longer exists.

In an era of velocity-driven pitchers, Hanner relies on arm angles and a four-seamer that averaged 93.7 mph in his last minor league outing to complement a sinker, cutter and sweeper.

His chance could be fleeting, something that could close when Castro returns. But Hanner, who Aaron Boone said has been in the mix for a call-up for over a month, still had a chance to soak in “everything I dreamed of” and avoided the temptation to look down the road.

“Just because a guy doesn’t light up the radar gun,” Boone said before the Yankees’ 10-5 win over the Mariners on Wednesday in The Bronx, “doesn’t mean he doesn’t have good stuff. … There’s a lot of things that make you good or nasty or whatever, not just power.”

Still, the presence of the unproven Hanner also captured the risk the Yankees took at the deadline.

They didn’t add a reliever. They even dealt away Camilo Doval.

They’ve banked on starters Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt getting healthy and current members of their rotation shifting to the bullpen. But formulating a plan around health can be a delicate strategy, one capable of quickly going awry.

Hanner has built a career without velocity, going from the Twins to the Guardians and then the Yankees in the winter on a minor league deal.

He triggered an opt-out clause July 15 that resulted in the Yankees selecting his contract, adding him to the 40-man roster and giving him his first jolt of belief that he could crack the majors this year.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Hanner pitched to a 2.10 ERA across 40 appearances in Triple-A, recording a 29.0 strikeout percentage and an 11.4 walk percentage.

He knows, too, that he won’t overpower opponents but can rather attack and get ahead in counts.

“Velo is king now,” he told The Post, “but throwing strikes is also king.”

In 2026, right-handed hitters recorded just a .167 average against him in Triple-A — and the Yankees, Boone said, will try to find Hanner lanes with righties.

And for now, in the second week of August, with just over 40 games remaining in the regular season, one of the final spots in the bullpen belongs to Hanner.

“[Fernando] Cruz told me, ‘You only debut once,’ ” Hanner said. “Take everything in. Enjoy it. … The rest will take care of itself. I’m not looking down the road. Like, I’m looking to help this team win and whatever happens, happens.”

The Texas Rangers scored two runs but the Anaheim Angels scored five runs.

I’m a big baseball fan so when I see or meet anyone I always tell them, “If you ever get the chance, you gotta see George Klassen pitch.” He’s one of the greatest of all time and it’s a privilege and a pleasure to watch him ply his trade on the mound.

What’s that you say? George Klassen had a 7.27 ERA and hadn’t pitched into the fifth inning in any of his three career starts and had walked 14 batters in his 8 2/3 career innings? Well that simply cannot be true. After all, I just saw him shove over six innings with just one walk against a team that Jacob deGrom himself believes is a playoff contender. THE Jacob deGrom!

The Rangers scored two runs tonight, one in the top of the second and another one inning later when Corey Seager hit a solo home run. That gave them a 2-0 lead and then they never scored again against baseball’s worst franchise of the last like 20 years but especially this particular year.

Which, ok, fine. They had an early lead. That’s usually a good sign. Except, in a 2-1 game, the bullpen immediately imploded for a disastrous three-run inning the moment tonight’s start Cal Quantrill exited despite facing the bottom of essentially the league’s worst lineup.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Angels scored their fifth run on a ground ball that bounced off the first base bag. Don’t bemoan Texas’ poor luck, though. After all, they let a bunch of terrible Angels batters on base to open up the potential for something like that to happen.

So the Rangers are below .500 again. The Astros won. It’s basically a 2.5 game lead in the West because the Rangers also lost a bunch to Houston this season and don’t have the tiebreaker against them.

The Rangers are 1-5 at Anaheim this season. They’ve scored just eight runs in three games against the Angels this week, three of which came in Monday’s extra inning when they were gifted a free baserunner in scoring position. They cannot and will not win this series.

But at least we can tell our grandkids we got to see George Klassen pitch.

Player of the Game: Quantrill allowed a run in five innings as he stepped back into the rotation. If the Rangers had the ability to treat the Angels like any of the other teams in the league have, he’d have a win tonight.

Up Next: The Rangers and Angels close out this series as the Rangers turn to deGrom — who I’m pretty sure cared more about just not having to move mid-year than any belief in Texas — hoping for their second win in Orange County in their final game at the Big A this season. RHP Walbert Urena will pitch for Anaheim.

Despite it being a getaway game, the Thursday night first pitch from Angel Stadium is scheduled for 9:07 pm CDT and coverage will be back on the Rangers Sports Network.

Dodgers left-hander Eric Lauer adjusted his cap and glanced into the stands as he walked off the field to a standing ovation.

In the Dodgers’ 4-2 win against the Kansas City Royals, completing a sweep at Dodger Stadium, Lauer held the Royals to two runs (one earned) in 6 ⅓ innings.

“It was really nice,” Lauer said, noting how much more enjoyable it was to pitch well at Dodger Stadium for the home team, instead of the opposition. “It always makes you feel good walking off the mound and having people appreciate what you did out there.”

The Dodgers (73-48) got home runs from Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Hunter Feduccia.

The Dodgers, with a short bullpen after playing extra innings twice in four games, needed Lauer to pitch deep into the game.

That plan seemed to be in jeopardy as he labored through the first three innings, his pitch count climbing to 64. But the next three, he only gave up just one walk.

“Wasn’t getting a ton of swing out of zone,” Lauer said. “So mentally I just had to lock in a little bit more in-zone, make sure I was throwing quality pitches in zone, and not try to be so fine. Give myself more plate to work with and try to get some quick soft contact.”

By the time he exited with one out in the seventh, he’d thrown 112 pitches, the most he’d thrown in a game since September 2024 (114 in 6 ⅔ innings against the Mets) and just three shy of his career high (8 ⅔ innings against the Dodgers in 2018).

Read more:Sources: Mark Walter has no plans to sell Dodgers after unloading Lakers

“Eric’s a smart player, been around,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And I say smart in the sense of understanding where our bullpen was at, and we had essentially everybody down. … It didn’t look great early as far as pitch efficiency, but he just recalibrated and kind of righted the ship, and it was really good.”

Right-hander Landon Knack finished the game and got his first save of the season.

Home runs from Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Hunter Feduccia provided all the offense the Dodgers needed to secure the victory.

Lauer, as a pitcher the Dodgers acquired in May to help them weather injuries, has pitched through uncertainty about his future with the team all year. He acknowledged as much as the trade deadline neared.

Still, he’s remained, through the trade deadline and IL activations, and steadied the rotation in the process.

Lauer has given up three or fewer runs in all but one of his 11 outings for the Dodgers And the Dodgers have won every game he’s pitched other than that rare clunker (four innings, six runs, 11 hits) against the Cubs at Wrigley Field last week.

The Dodgers rotation, however, will continue to evolve down the stretch.

In the coming weeks, the Dodgers probably have to clear room for right-hander Tyler Glasnow’s (back) return from the IL. He’s set to make his third minor-league rehab start later in the week.

And Ohtani, who has been hitting but not pitching for over a month, has progressed to long toss, although Roberts said he’s not sure when he’ll move to throwing bullpens.

The Dodgers’ rotation is steadily evolving into its final playoff form. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been a steady presence at the top all season. Then they added left-hander Tarik Skubal before the trade deadline. And fellow two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell returned from the injured list to throw six innings of one-run ball Tuesday.

Right-hander Tyler Glasnow (back) is set to make his third minor-league rehab start later in the week. And Ohtani has progressed to long toss, although manager Dave Roberts said he’s not sure when he’ll move to throwing bullpens.

The Dodgers still, however, have rotation questions to answer come October. Though they probably will have only four starting spots to fill in the postseason — and Yamamoto, Skubal, Snell and Glasnow can be penciled in when healthy — Ohtani’s build-up adds an interesting wrinkle.

Read more:Dodgers' Freddie Freeman appears to avoid serious injury in fall down dugout steps

If he runs out of time to build up to a full starter’s workload, will the Dodgers use him as an opener in the postseason? And if so, who will follow him?

And how do the rest of the Dodgers’ starters — Roki Sasaki, who has put together an impressive last month, left-hander Justin Wrobleski, a 2026 All-Star who has gone through a recent rough patch, and Lauer, who turned around his season with a change in scenery — fit into their plans?

In the coming weeks, the Dodgers will have to clear room for Glasnow’s return from the IL. If they don’t move a starter to the bullpen, or decide Wrobleski could use some time to work through the issues that have sprung up in his last three starts, Lauer’s lack of minor-league options could make him a DFA candidate.

If Lauer eventually does end up as the odd man out in a roster crunch, he’s done plenty in 11 appearances with the Dodgers to prove he can be an asset to a contending team looking to reinforce its pitching staff. So, he’d draw attention from other teams on the waiver wire or as a free agent.

But he’s appeared to be on the bubble before. And he’s still here, providing consistency every week.

Freeman exits

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman fell down the visiting dugout stairs while chasing a foul ball in the eighth inning. He remained in the game for the top of the eighth, but Tommy Edman hit for him in the bottom of the eighth and he was replaced in the ninth at first base by Kiké Hernández.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Los Angeles Dodgers star first baseman Freddie Freeman exited Wednesday's game against the Kansas City Royals after taking a hard fall in the top of the eighth inning.

Freeman was chasing a pop-up from Isaac Collins that veered into foul territory next to the first base dugout. He chased it onto the warning track as the ball continued to pull right before stopping and trying to lean over the gap, but the 36-year-old's momentum took him down the dugout steps.

Chasing a pop foul, Freddie Freeman falls down the stairs and into the dugout in a terrifying moment. Somehow he stays in the game. pic.twitter.com/SfM9IHssrZ

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 13, 2026

Freeman was immediately attended to by security, Royals players and Miguel Rojas as he took a moment to gather himself, but appeared to be OK and ran back onto the field to chants of his name and a loud applause from Dodger fans in attendance.

He finished out the frame on defense but Tommy Edman pinch-hit in his place in the bottom of the eighth.

The Dodgers went on to beat the Royals 4-2.

Freddie Freeman injury update

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Freeman's left hand and shoulder took the brunt of the fall and that he felt it would be difficult for Freeman to take the next at-bat, which is why he subbed in Edman.

"He's sore," Roberts told reporters. "Hand, knee, foot, shoulder a little bit. But I think we really dodged a bullet. Very scary visually."

Roberts added that Freeman did not need X-rays and is considered day-to-day. The plan was already for Freeman to take a day off on Friday, but Roberts said he'll talk with his first baseman and see how he feels over the next few days.

"We really dodged a bullet."

Dave Roberts speaks with the media after the #Dodgers 4-2 win over Kansas City, addressing Freddie Freeman’s exit from tonight’s game. pic.twitter.com/Q0tfOv9j2A

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) August 13, 2026

Freeman spoke with reporters later Wednesday night and described himself as being "sore" but "in good spirits."

He said he didn't hit his head but his playing status for Thursday will likely be determined by "how I feel tomorrow when I wake up."

"I'm ok; this one's not my ankle... Everything on my right side is pretty sore."

After the #Dodgers 4-2 win over the Royals, Freddie Freeman (1-2, BB) talks with the media after leaving tonight's game with body soreness. pic.twitter.com/TtpsFEWc23

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) August 13, 2026

This story has been updated with new information.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Freddie Freeman exits Dodgers game after scary fall down dugout stairs

Wednesday night saw the Yankees offense explode for the first time in a long time.

The bats pushed across 10 runs, the most they've scored in almost a month, and they used that to grab victory after being down three runs early in their 10-5 win over the Mariners.

And while Trent Grisham's two home runs may steal headlines, rookie Spencer Jones put his stamp on this game in a big way. The outfielder drove in three runs on two hits (both doubles), but it was his first double in the third inning that shifted the momentum.

With the Yankees down 4-1, Jones came up against Bryce Miller with two outs and two runners on. Miller struck out Jones in his first at-bat, but the left-handed slugger battled, working a full count before driving a 97 mph fastball down in the zone off the left field wall to drive in two. While it didn't tie or give the Yankees the lead, manager Aaron Boone pointed out the hit as a turning point in the game.

"Miller beat him up with the fastball up with the punch in the first, but the more he saw in the second at-bat, laid off some tough ones," Boone said after the win. "Found his timing with the fastball….really big at-bat to get us back in the game and the guys took it from there."

Spencer Jones goes the other way off the wall to drive in a pair with a double! pic.twitter.com/aczJqVTLlK

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 13, 2026

"Feeling more comfortable, feeling better," Jones said of how he feels at the plate. "Better queues, kinda working through some stuff. And starting to do what I do."

Jones explained that those "queues" are what his body is doing at the plate: the stance, the swings and how his body feels. Since those have clicked, he's remembering how to move his body and his swing to mirror when he's seen success in his career.

And it has paid off.

While his overall numbers don't jump off the page -- a lot of that has to do with his first cup of coffee with the big league club in June -- with more starts and at-bats, Jones is becoming more comfortable facing major league pitching.

"Having professional at-bats every day," Boone said of what's different with Jones. "He understands some of his strengths and weaknesses. He’s done a good job of having a plan up there, and knowing what the pitcher’s strengths and weaknesses are. And he’s shown some adaptability at this level, which has been good."

The Yankees are trying to win without some of their top bats in Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. Jones has stepped in and delivered production in their stead, especially in the clutch.

After his two doubles, Jones is hitting .282/.391/.590 (.981 OPS) in 46 PA with men on base this season, according to Katie Sharp.

He's also recorded 10 RBI over his last 13 games.

"I learned when I was young, when there’s runners on base, there’s really no pressure on you, the pressure is on the pitcher on the mound," Jones said of his ability to hit with RISP. "That’s how I always framed it. Guys are going to try and get you out; they’ll put stuff over the plate. And as long as you do your job and don’t go chasing, you’ll get a pitch to hit."

This stretch is the longest runway Jones has had in the majors. The injuries to Judge and Bellinger have facilitated more playing time for Jones, but earlier in the season, the young slugger didn't have that luxury, and he struggled and was eventually demoted.

So, what did the 25-year-old work on when he was back in Triple-A? Turns out, he needed to get back to being more relaxed.

"I need to slow things down. You try so hard to do a lot of things," Jones said. "For me, I’m a chill bird. I just need to relax and allow myself to do what I do and not force things. Settle into that mentality, not trying too hard, allowing things to happen has been the big difference." 

It started as a routine pop-up.

It ended in a frightening –– but, as of now, benign –– scene.

In the top of the eighth inning on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, first baseman Freddie Freeman was tracking a pop fly in foul ground when he lost his footing at the edge of the visiting dugout and went tumbling straight down a flight of stairs.

He was forced to leave the game early, but was hopeful he had come away with only general body soreness.

“I haven’t really seen the replay yet, but I went to lean, like I was gonna lean against the rail to catch the ball, and obviously there was no rail,” Freeman said afterward. “It was an opening.”

Immediately, concern descended from all parts of the ballpark as the 36-year-old disappeared from sight.

Several of Freeman’s Dodgers teammates came racing over to his aid. Several more Kansas City Royals players also leapt off the bench to check on the former MVP. 

For several moments, with Freeman sprawled on the ground beneath the concrete overhang, the entirety of the crowd also seemed to be holding its collective breath.

“It’s definitely scary,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “Anybody going down like that is.”

The good news: Freeman had fallen in a strangely fortunate spot.

He didn’t hit any of the steps coming down, instead flying straight onto a rubber landing behind the camera well in the first-base dugout. Beyond that, just as importantly, was another set of stairs that led further down to the clubhouse. While Freeman landed with a thud on his right side, his head avoided what could have been a violent collision with the ground.

“I think that’s what kind of saved me,” Freeman said. “I landed on that, and that’s what gave leeway for my head.”

Thus, Freeman finally got back to his feet and re-emerged on the field –– getting seranded with chants of “Fredd-ie! Fredd-ie!” as he returned to his position and played out the rest of the inning.

“I am sore,” he said. “Kneecaps are sore, shoulder is sore, hand is sore, wrist is sore. I mean, I fell. But I’m in good spirits. I’ve already cold-tubbed. I’ve done everything I needed to do to put myself in a position to be able to hopefully play tomorrow.”

That did not mean Freeman finished Wednesday’s game, getting pinch-hit for in the next half-inning of the Dodgers’ eventual sweep-clinching 4-2 win.

“When the adrenaline started to wear off, I kind of motioned in [to the dugout] like, ‘Hey guys, you guys might need to hit for me. It’s getting sore,'” Freeman said.

Upon his exit, however, Freeman felt confident he hadn’t suffered anything more than “total body soreness,” as manager Dave Roberts put it.

“I didn’t hit my head, so that was the key part,” he said.

The veteran slugger didn’t even undergo X-rays, only laughing about the exchange in which head trainer Thomas Albert had asked him.

 “Thomas asked if I needed an X-ray, and I said, ‘Do you want to do a whole-body X-ray?’” Freeman quipped. “He was like, ‘We can.’ But no, I’m OK.”

Freeman’s fall came at the end of an otherwise encouraging night at Chavez Ravine.

The Dodgers got home runs from Mookie Betts (who is heating up again, hitting 11-for-26 over the last week), Shohei Ohtani (on a go-ahead two-run blast in the third) and Hunter Feduccia (his first since being reacquired by the team at the trade deadline).

They got nine combined innings out of Eric Lauer (6 ⅓ innings, 2 runs, 1 earned) and Landon Knack (2 ⅔ scoreless on a night the bullpen was thin and he was called up from triple-A).

And after entering this homestand in a 1-8 tailspin, they leveled out their form with a narrow three-game sweep.

“Just a great sweep when we needed it,” Freeman said.

And one, the hope remains, that didn’t come at the cost of a freak injury to a star player in the dugout.

The Royals made Eric Lauer work and had the lead twice, but it was not enough as the Dodgers’ three long homers were enough to win 4-2.

The early game was back and forth. Neither offense was able to score in the first, but then it was all scoring for a bit. Daniel Lynch managed to strike out the side in the bottom of the first and looked like maybe the experiment to move him back to the rotation was bearing some fruit. In the second, the Royals got the scoring going with a two out rally. Tyler Tolbert battled for a walk and then promptly stole second base on the first pitch of Josh Rojas’ plate appearance. Josh rewarded Tyler’s speed by singling to right and giving the Royals a 1-0 lead.

That lead did not last very long. Lynch threw a decent bottom of the second, but he left one pitch middle middle to Mookie Betts who crushed it to left center for a solo home run and a tie ball game. Mookie has not hit well this year, but against the Royals in this series this got him to four extra base hits, so if he gets back on track it may be the Royals’ fault. To the third. The Royals first base runner was Jac Caglianone who hit a grounder up the middle. It looked like Betts would throw him out, but the throw went wide and into the dugout putting Cags on second base. Salvador Perez followed that by hitting the first pitch to the right side slowly but in just the right spot to clear both the first and second baseman. It went so slow to Kyle Tucker in right field that Jac was able to get home despite slowing up as he approached third. The Royals had the lead again 2-1.

In the bottom of the third, Lynch managed a groundout to start the inning, which brought up Miguel Rojas who slapped a ball down the third base line for a double. That brought it back to the top of the order and Shohei Ohtani, who struck out looking the first time up. He was ready this time as Daniel left a sinker up over the middle allowing Shohei to hit an opposite field blast and give the Dodgers their first lead of the night 3-2. This brought an end to Lynch’s night. Matt Quatraro called for Jose Cuas to come in from the bullpen. He got out of the inning with help of a caught stealing from Salvy. He would take care of the fourth as well.

Mason Black took the mound in the fifth for the Royals. The first batter he faced was Hunter Feduccia who got a pitch to his liking and hit the Dodgers’ third home run of the night and gave LA a 4-2 lead. Meanwhile, Eric Lauer had struggled to get through the first three innings had settled in and had a fairly easy 4th and 5th innings. Even pushing 90 pitches, he came back for the 6th and took care of Starling Marte and Carter Jensen with little drama. Isaac Collins managed to work a walk after the Dodgers lost their second challenge of the night leaving them without ABS help for the remainder. Another challenge quickly followed on a potential HBP for Tolbert, but Kansas City lost that challenge as well. Tolbert struck out and you would think Lauer’s day would end his day at 107 pitches with a solid six innings and a lead in the bank. He did come back out in the 7th to face Rojas and record one more out before being replaced by Landon Knack.

Luke Maile did take over for Salvy in the bottom of the 6th as the catcher and finished the rest of the game. It sounds like Salvador’s right elbow is barking and we will hopefully get more info over the next few days.

In the eighth inning, all the weird fly balls came out. Carter Jensen hit a ball sky high with one out and it was straight toward the mound. The pitcher, still Knack, thought someone would call him off, but no one did so it fell. Next up was Isaac Collins who also skied one this time toward the Royals dugout. Freddie Freeman tracked it and ended up falling down the dugout steps, though he seemed to be fine and stayed in the game. Regardless, the Royals managed to find no runs and continued with their two-run deficit.

Craig Kimbrel made his Royals debut in the 8th. Thanks to a double play, it was uneventful. It also did not matter. The Royals never mustered any more runs against Landon Knack who finished out the game. It was a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers. Hopefully, the team can have a better time in Anaheim before they wrap up this road trip.

The Dodgers have their first sweep of the second half, as they took care of business against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday with a 4-2 victory.

The early game jitters flared up again for Eric Lauer, as he left two men on in the top of the first inning. He was one out away from a perfect second inning, but he walked the speedy Tyler Tolbert before Josh Rojas drove him home with a single to right field.

Mookie Betts erased the Kansas City lead by smashing his second home run in as many games, tying the score at 1. It’s the first time Betts has hit home runs in consecutive games since doing so from June 24-27.

Lauer began the third inning by striking out Bobby Witt Jr., but a wild throw from Mookie Betts allowed Jac Caglianone to reach second. The error proved costly as Salvador Pérez attacked the first pitch he saw and drove home Caglianone on a single to give the Royals the lead again.

As quick as the Royals were to strike back, the Dodgers answered back against Lynch in the bottom of the third inning. Miguel Rojas put the tying run on base with a double before Shohei Ohtani took Lynch the other way for a go-ahead, two-run home run, giving the Dodgers the lead and knocking the southpaw out of the game.

The Dodgers wasted a leadoff single from Betts in the bottom of the fourth, but Hunter Feduccia helped pad the lead with a solo home run against Mason Black in the bottom of the fifth inning. It was just the third career home run for Feduccia, and his first hit in a Dodger uniform.

After allowing three consecutive baserunners in the top of the third inning, Lauer kept the Royals at bay the rest of the way. He retired 10 consecutive hitters until he allowed a two-out walk to Isaac Collins in the top of the sixth inning. He ended his night by striking out Josh Rojas to begin the top of the seventh inning while tossing a season-high 112 pitches, the first time his pitch count reached triple digits this year. After allowing six runs in his most previous start, Lauer allowed just two runs while striking out six, the most in any start as a Dodger.

Landon Knack nearly let the lead slip, as he allowed a pair of two-out singles, but he got Luke Maile to ground out to first to get out of trouble. Knack ended up getting the final eight outs in relief of Lauer, giving him the third save of his career.

Mookie Betts added a walk to his two hits in the bottom of the sixth inning, and he finished the three-game set with a batting average at .545 while smashing two home runs and driving in three.

The Dodgers still hold onto a 7 1/2 game lead over the San Diego Padres for the NL West lead, and with the Milwaukee Brewers having been swept by San Diego, the Dodgers are now just one game back for the best record in baseball.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Mookie Betts (15), Shohei Ohtani (27), Hunter Feduccia (3)
• WP— Eric Lauer (7-6): 6 1/3 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs (1 earned run), 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
• LP— Daniel Lynch IV (4-4): 2 1/3 IP, 3 hits, 3 earned runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts
• SV— Landon Knack (1): 2 2/3 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers continue their homestand on Thursday as they begin a four-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers (7:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Roki Sasaki faces Shane Drohan.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman fell directly into the Kansas City Royals dugout in the top of the eighth inning trying to catch a foul popup, and left the game after the defensive inning.

Royals left fielder Isaac Collins lofted a pop up into foul territory on the first base side, and Freeman tracked it the whole way. He reached to try to catch the ball, but was right at the opening in the dugout with no railing, and tumbled directly down the steps. He did not catch the ball.

Amazingly, Freeman remained in the game, but only to finish the inning on defense.

In the bottom of the eighth, Freeman was set to lead off, but was pinch-hit for by Tommy Edman, as Freeman retreated to the clubhouse for treatment. Kiké Hernández took over at first base in the ninth inning.