The Red Sox have one more thing to apologize for in the midst of their rough season.

Team CEO Sam Kennedy went on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Thursday to offer up a mea culpa after he’d refuted the host’s report that star outfielder Roman Anthony had a tear in his ring finger, with Kennedy claiming it was a sprain.

Anthony himself confirmed it was a tear.

Anthony, sidelined since May 4, has no clear timetable to return to Boston’s lineup.

“Well, listen, I need to own up to my mistake,” Kennedy said. “I mean, I was unequivocal in my response to you regarding Roman and his situation. Apparently, I missed that day at Harvard Medical School. I shouldn’t be sitting here talking about a sprain. A sprain is a tear. I was reading off of a report that identified the sprain…So, I apologize for my mistake there. I’ve communicated with Roman about that. That’s all good. Most important is he’s doing the work to getting back.”

It’s just one of several notable injuries and issues that have seen the Red Sox fall deep into the AL East basement — at 27-39, they’re 3.5 games back of fourth-place Baltimore and 13.5 behind the division-leading Rays.

A hallmark of what’s quickly becoming a lost season is the lack of clarity around the team’s injuries.

Ace pitcher Garrett Crochet, on the injured list since Apr. 29, was said to be “making good progress on the lat strain,” on Thursday, according to chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.

Crochet, however, went on to tell the Boston Globe that the injury is “a lot worse than what we thought.”

If the Red Sox do nothing else this season, they should at least work on getting their stories straight.

PITTSBURGH — After missing four straight games with a neck issue, catcher Will Smith was finally placed on the 10-day injured list by the Dodgers on Thursday but is hopeful of returning when he is eligible next weekend.

Smith said he was diagnosed with an inflamed disk in his neck but is planning to continue hitting and throwing.

He will be able to be activated as soon as June 19 (his IL stint was backdated to Monday), when the Dodgers open a series against the Orioles.

“It’s been a long few days,” said Smith, who woke up with neck pain one day during the team’s road trip in Arizona last week. “Played on it a couple days, played on it at home, and then just that third or fourth day, I kind of felt it was just getting a lot worse. Couldn’t play that day. It’s one of the things we thought was going to get a little better in a couple days [but is] just taking a little bit longer.”

Smith said he is feeling better now but is still not 100%. The pain is on the right side of his neck and impacts most when he hits.

“With a tight neck, it’s harder to see the pitches and stuff,” he said. “The first day I felt I hit a double, so like, it’s part of it. But yeah, just kind of got to a place where I couldn’t go out there and help the team win.”

Smith had not been playing to his standards as a three-time All-Star even before the injury this year, batting just .249 with six home runs, 23 RBIs and a .720 OPS.

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Manager Dave Roberts said Smith’s injury was still “playable” now, but the team didn’t want his injury getting worse.

“I just don’t think it’s smart to run Will out there just because he’s Will Smith and he’ll do it,” Roberts said. “We gotta take care of his health for this year. So I don’t think it’s a serious thing, but I do think that us taking care of it right now on the front end will pay benefits.”

In the meantime, the Dodgers will use Dalton Rushing as their starting catcher and called up Chuckie Robinson from Triple-A Oklahoma City to serve as the backup.

The Detroit Tigers made a little move after Thursday’s series win over the Minnesota Twins. They transferred Javier Báez to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot. That spot went to outfielder James Outman, who they claimed off of waivers from those very same Twins.

Báez suffered a high ankle sprain sliding into first base in a game back on April 28. His initial rehab work didn’t progress as the team had hoped, and he was shut down again for a little rest and a round of second opinions at the beginning of June. With the move, Báez won’t be eligible to return until the end of June, but he wasn’t going to beat that timeline anyway.

As for the 29-year-old Outman, he’s a bit of an odd choice for a claim. One has to assume that the Tigers arelooking for a Jahmai Jones replacement, but Outman hits left-handed. You may remember him from a breakout 2023 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he mashed 23 home runs in a part-time role.

Since that point, Outman’s extremely high strikeout rates have kept him bouncing up and down between the major leagues and the Triple-A level. The Twins deal reliever Brock Stewart to the Dodgers for Outman back at last summer’s trade deadline. They DFA’d him back on June 6 to open a spot for Royce Lewis to be recalled to the Twins.

Outman is dangerous against hangers, but has really struggled to drive fastballs the past few years. He swings and misses a ton, and his strikeout rates have been over 40 percent the past two seasons. It’s hard to buy that the Tigers are going to unlock something that the Dodgers and Twins could not, but Outman is a solid corner outfielder who can play a solid center field, so presumably he takes over in center, letting Pérez and Vierling ride the bench until there’s a left-hander to hit against.

Outman is out of options, so he has to be added to the Tigers’ roster. The only sensible corresponding move is a DFA of Jahmai Jones, as they’re not going to run with six outfielders and cut Zack Short. Of course, to DFA Jones would’ve opened up a 40-man spot anyway, so all around this is a bit of a strange one. Outman can’t really hit major league pitching, so it’s hard to say what they’re doing with this claim.

We’ll just have to wait and see what corresponding move is to come.

It seems the Seattle Mariners may have finally found their footing. After a difficult start to the season plagued by injury and inconsistency, the Mariners have taken the lead in the AL West and seem poised to hold on for the remainder of the year. It still feels wild to have the Mariners among the best teams in the AL. I never even imagined this was possible. I thought the Mariners had not done enough this offseason and were going to fall back to being a fringe Wild Card team, but I’m glad to be proven wrong so far.

Part of their inconsistency was the absence of Bryce Miller from the rotation and the… let’s say less-than-ideal performances from Luis Castillo. With Miller returning to the rotation and the breakout season being experienced by Hancock, the question became: should the Mariners run a six-man rotation for the remainder of the season? The answer here was a resounding yes.

Personally, this was not the result I expected. I guess there really is a silent majority that backs Castillo, at least for the first four innings of a game or so; that third time through the lineup hits different. Still, despite the inconsistencies to start the season, the Mariners’ experimentation with the rotation has seemingly worked out. Moving from a six-man rotation to piggyback starts with Miller and Castillo back to a six-man rotation, and somehow, out of all of it, they actually got several quality starts out of both Castillo and Miller. Both Castillo and Miller have another start coming up on the Mariners’ current road swing, so I guess we will see if this six-man rotation can work out like we all hope it will.

Now, for a moment, it did seem like Castillo was “cooked,” as the kids say, and the Mariners would have to move back to a traditional five-man rotation eventually. The question then was, who’s the odd man out if they do so, and you all were not shy about your choice at all.

So I guess it’s good news for Castillo that he seems to have mostly gotten back on track over the past couple of weeks. While the piggybacking was rough, it seems to be just what he and Miller needed to get back into the swing of things. It looks like the Mariners will be sticking with the six-man rotation, at least through the duration of this road trip. After that, who knows!

Cal Raleigh also struggled immensely here at the start of the season, which culminated in an IL stint and a rehab assignment in Triple-A. His injury raised an interesting opportunity for young Jhonny Pereda. Pereda has emerged as a bright spot for the Mariners as a backstop in the absence of Raleigh and amid the continued struggles of Mitch Garver; one has to wonder what the roster will look like when Raleigh is back in action. Pereda has slashed an impressive .288/.351/.404 over 52 at-bats so far this season, admittedly a small sample size, but far better than Garver’s measly .193/.323/.325, and multiple years of poor play behind that. Personally, while Garver has had his moments, I see no reason to stick with him over Pereda should it come to that decision, but let us know what you think in the survey below: has Jhonny Pereda earned a spot on the Mariners roster for the rest of the year?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mariners fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

The Mets and Cardinals had a wild, dinger-heavy finale to their three-game set at Citi Field, with the Mets out-slugging the Red Birds 5-4.

The two teams combined for five home runs in the first two innings: Alec Brunson had a solo home run in the first off of Christian Scott, which was quickly answered by a two-run homer by Bo Bichette and a solo shot by Jared Young in the bottom of the inning. In the second, Lars Nootbaar hit a homer with no one on to bring the Cardinals within one, and Jimmy Crooks then hit a two-run shot to put St. Louis up by one. 4-3.

That would be the end of the offense for the Cardinals, and Scott settled in nicely. While he didn’t complete five innings, aside from the three home runs, Scott’s day was effective, if not efficient. Across four and two-thirds innings, Scott allowed seven hits, four earned runs, one walk, and six strikeouts on the day. This was the sepmd career start by Scott where he gave up four earned runs; he’s still not given up five in a major league start.

Scott’s Cardinals counterpart Hunter Dobbins went four and a third, striking out five without allowing a walk. Both starters recovered nicely from the early home runs.

The Mets came back from the early deficit in the fifth when Young singled to score Juan Soto off of Justin Bruihl. Two frames later, and Soto would add a solo home run of his own to the tally against JoJo Romero, and that was all the Mets would need.

The Mets’ bullpen was fantastic throughout, allowing no hits and just one walk over four and a third innings. The relief pitching wasn’t dominant, striking out just three over those innings, but they kept the Cardinals off-balance and off the base paths. A.J. Minter (one and a third), Brooks Raley (one), Luke Weaver (one), and Devin Williams (one) pitched to just one above the minimum. Weaver is now in a 17 consecutive scoreless innings streak, despite being seen mumbling to himself when he gave up a couple of deep fly ball outs.

The Mets likely used more relievers than they would’ve liked to today, but the team needed the win.

The Mets are now 8-8 in their last 16 games, but at various points in that span, they’ve looked totally lost or like they’re snapping out of this slump. With Francisco Alvarez back and Francisco Lindor on the way back, the Mets are being given their best chance to try to salvage their season.

Nolan McLean starts tomorrow when the Mets face the Braves for the first time this season. Atlanta has not announced a starter yet.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Juan Soto +26% WPA
Big Mets loser: -23% WPA
Mets pitchers: +24% WPA
Mets hitters: +26% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto’s go-ahead home run, +24.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jimmy Crooks’s home run, -15.3% WPA.

The start of Thursday afternoon’s game between the Royals and Rangers was delayed for over two hours while the skies remained sunny in most of the Kansas City area.

Rain delay non-update: It's not raining. It hasn't rained. Slugger is on the field firing the t-shirt cannon to fans. There's no other movement anywhere else. Baseball, it really doesn't get better than this.

— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) June 11, 2026

Kansas City was under a severe thunderstorm watch this afternoon, and some parts of the metro saw brief showers, although it doesn’t appear the stadium was affected.

So why was there a delay?

The Royals may have had another reason to be cautious – a heavily taxed bullpen. Stephen Kolek departed after five innings on Tuesday, forcing the Royals to cover four innings with relievers. On Wednesday, Seth Lugo exited early after being struck in the head by a line drive, and an extra-inning game required the Royals to use seven relievers.

The Royals wanted to avoid a situation where the game starts and is then delayed after a few innings. That could cause starting pitcher Michael Wacha to stiffen up and exit the game, requiring the Royals to go to their bullpen early again.

The Royals also used 7 relievers last night, four of them for the second straight day and are incredibly thin pitching wise. Can't afford to start a guy and have him leave early due to a delay. So… we wait. Not sure how the Rangers feel about that, but we wait.

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) June 11, 2026

On game day, if weather becomes an issue before first pitch, the home club is usually the primary decision-maker on whether to delay the start, move up the start, or postpone the game. Teams consult with the league with input from the visiting team, but usually the home team gets final call. MLB rules state:

The home team shall be the sole judge as to whether a game shall not be started because of unsuitable weather conditions or the unfit condition of the playing field, except for the second game of a conventional or split doubleheader.

Once the game starts, the decision is made by the umpiring crew. A Royals rain delay with no rain previously happened in April of 2025, for a game with the Rockies.

Teams have become more aggressive about moving around game times to avoid inclement weather. But this may have been a case of excessive caution. It’s difficult to imagine the Rangers were thrilled about a two-hour delay before a flight to Boston for a series that begins tomorrow night.

It is 2:34 pm. The grounds crew is coming on to the field. Not a drop of rain has fallen at Kauffman Stadium. They will prepare the field and we will play. A nearly two-hour delay for no precipitation. It's a bad look for everybody.

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) June 11, 2026

The Royals began the game at 3:30, two hours after the original 1:10 start time. Baseball teams spend a lot of time trying to outsmart the weather. On Thursday, the Royals avoided the risk of a mid-game rain delay. They also left plenty of people wondering whether there was ever enough weather to justify delaying the game in the first place.

The Dodgers continue their road trip against recently terrible teams who are above .500 this season, heading to Chicago to face the first-place White Sox beginning Friday night at Rate Field. It used to be called Guaranteed Rate Field, but there are no assurances in life.

Roki Sasaki makes the start, looking to continue his era of good feelings with five runs (four earned) allowed over his last four starts and 24 1/3 innings, with 29 strikeouts and five walks.

Right-hander Sean Burke starts for Chicago.

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at White Sox
• Ballpark: Rate Field, Chicago
• Time: 4:40 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

I’m going to start this off by giving Dugout Radar a shout-out. In case you’ve never heard of it, it’s a website that does its best to give you an idea of how likely it is to see the tarp on the field for any given ball game across Major League baseball. As of right now, it is giving tonight’s game between the Braves and White Sox a 92 percent chance of being delayed by rain. On top of all of that, there’s currently a tornado watch for the entire Chicagoland area from now until 10 p.m. CT.

I’m saying all of that to say that there’s a decent chance that we won’t see this particular lineup in action tonight.With that being said, it’s still worth talking about so let’s get into it, shall we?

Here’s Atlanta’s lineup:

Our starter for Game 3 🎯#BravesCountrypic.twitter.com/2QzN84KHq3

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 11, 2026

Yep. That is Mauricio Dubón leading off. He’s talked about how he’s rarely had opportunities to get this many at-bats and now he’s certainly going to get them tonight now that he’s at the top of the order. The middle of the order looks familiar, then you get to Jorge Mateo as DH, Eli White in right field, Ha-Seong Kim at shortstop and Sandy León serving in the ninth spot. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that this is the most inspiring lineup we’ve seen this season but it is baseball and anything can happen, so hopefully this particular nine can make something shake so the Braves can avoid the sweep.

Here’s how the White Sox are looking:

Your White Sox starters: pic.twitter.com/48KlELZFiM

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 11, 2026

I halfway expected Braden Montgomery to be hitting cleanup with the way he’s gotten his big league career started so far. With that being said, they’re still going to get a dose of Montgomery from the cleanup spot anyways since Colson will be hitting fourth this evening. Martín Pérez could have his work cut out for him this evening.

Tonight’s game is scheduled for a 7:40 p.m. ET start but as I mentioned to start this article, rain could play a factor in tonight’s contest. We’ll see you there!