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Chris Taylor was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday to clear a roster spot for utilityman Tommy Edman, who was activated off the injured list and was in the starting lineup for the series finale against the Los Angeles Angels.
Taylor, who played all three outfield spots and second base this season, is owed $13,435,484 from a $60 million, four-year contract he agreed to ahead of the 2022 season. He is due the remaining $9,435,484 of his $13 million salary this season and a $4 million buyout of a 2026 club option.
Taylor, who turns 35 in August, was the longest-tenured position player on the roster after backup catcher Austin Barnes was designated for assignment on Wednesday.
“This has been a very emotional week for all of us,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “Barnesy and C.T. have been in the middle of some huge moments for this organization. Both left an indelible mark on our culture and where we’re at at this point, so the decisions were incredibly difficult.
“But with where we are, the division race, the composition of our roster, we felt like this was in the Dodgers’ best interest in terms of how to win as many games and put us in position to best win a World Series this year.”
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Taylor had several big postseason hits for the Dodgers, including a walk-off homer that beat St. Louis in the 2021 NL wild card game, three homers in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series against Atlanta and a leadoff homer in the 2017 World Series opener against Houston.
But he had only 35 plate appearances this season, batting .200 (7 for 35) with two doubles and two RBIs in 28 games.
The emergence of rookie Hyeseong Kim made Taylor expendable, Kim hit .452 (14 for 31) in his first 14 games after being recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City and reached base in nine consecutive plate appearances.
“Beyond just how endearing he is to his teammates, just the energy he brings, the foot speed, the versatility as well, it’s just something that adds a lot to our roster and a different look,” Friedman said of Kim. “No decision is ever made in a vacuum. It’s within the context of our roster and where we’re at. And he’s done a great job.”
Acquired from Seattle in a 2016 trade, Taylor revamped his swing with the Dodgers and was a fixture in the lineup from 2017-23, playing six positions and batting .256 with a .779 OPS, 103 homers, 173 doubles and 391 RBIs.
Taylor had a neck injury and struggled to find his swing last year, hitting .202 with a .598 OPS and 76 strikeouts in 87 games.
“He is the consummate pro,” Friedman said. “He came in hungry and wanting to get better and dove in with our hitting guys with our position coaches. He got better in the infield and outfield, and he brought production in the batter’s box.
“He was a huge part of so much success that we’ve enjoyed and can’t say enough about the human, the worker, the teammate, the player. He’s one of the toughest guys I’ve ever been around.”
Right-hander reliever Kirby Yates was placed on the 15-day injured list, a day after straining a hamstring against the Angels. The Dodgers selected the contract of 33-year-old right-handed reliever Lou Trivino from Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles will have to make another roster move early this week when right fielder Teoscar Hernandez (groin strain) is activated off the injured list. The Dodgers said Kim will remain on the roster after Hernández returns.
Reporting by The Associated Press.Â
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Phillies closer José Alvarado suspended for 80 games for positive drug test
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Philadelphia Phillies closer Jose Alvarado was suspended for 80 games on Sunday following a positive test for external testosterone under Major League Baseball’s drug-testing program.
Alvarado, among the hardest-throwing relievers, became the second player suspended this year under the big league testing program after Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said the positive test was caused by a weight loss drug Alvarado took during the offseason. Dombrowski said Alvarado accepted the suspension and did not appeal.
“It’s not something he did knowingly,” Dombrowski said. “I believe that, the way he talked to me.”
Barring rainouts that push games into later this season, Alvarado would be eligible to return on Aug. 19 against Seattle. Alvarado would lose $4.5 million, exactly half his $9 million salary this year, as part of a $22 million, three-year contract.
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Because of the suspension, he would be ineligible for the postseason.
“We’ve got to move on,” manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s too bad, but we’ve got to move on. We have really good pieces here that can pick up the slack.”
Phillies closing options include Jordan Romano and Orion Kerkering.
A 29-year-old left-hander, Alvarado is 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA and seven saves in seven chances. His 99.6 mph four-seam fastball velocity ranks fifth among those who have thrown 250 or more pitches.
Philadelphia has a $9 million option on Alvarado for 2026 with a $500,000 buyout.
Alvarado is 19-26 with a 3.40 ERA in 399 relief appearances and one start over nine major league seasons with Tampa Bay (2017-20) and the Phillies (2021-25). He has 52 saves in 68 appearances and appeared in 21 postseason games over the last three seasons.
Alvarado had 13 saves last year, Jeff Hoffman 10 and Carlos Estévez six. Hoffman became a free agent and signed a $33 million, three-year contract with Toronto, and Estévez became a free agent and agreed to a $22 million, two-year deal with Kansas City.
Alvarado was the sixth player suspended this year for a drug violation. One was suspended under the minor league program and three under the program for minor leaguers assigned outside the United States and Canada.
Right-hander Jose Ruiz, on the injured list since May 3 with neck spasms, was activated to fill Alvarado’s roster spot.
Reporting by The Associated Press.Â
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Shohei Ohtani throws 50-pitch bullpen on same day as Clayton Kershaw’s shaky debut
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Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani threw a 50-pitch bullpen session Saturday, another step in his throwing program in his return from elbow surgery. Ohtani advanced from the 35 pitches he tossed in his previous bullpen session on the same day that the Dodgers activated left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw looked rusty during his first major league outing in nearly nine months. The three-time Cy Young Award winner lasted four innings Saturday night, allowing five runs and five hits in a no-decision against the Los Angeles Angels.Â
He walked three, struck out two and threw 48 of 83 pitches for strikes.Â
The Angels won 11-9 for their second straight win over the Dodgers.
Kershaw was making his 2025 debut after recovering from offseason toe and knee surgeries. The 37-year-old left-hander gave up three runs in a 38-pitch first inning when Logan O’Hoppe delivered a two-run single and Matthew Lugo had an RBI single.
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Ohtani was the designated hitter Saturday against his former team and went 0-for-6 from the plate. As a pitcher for the Angels, the right-hander went 38-19 with a 3.01 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings. He made 86 starts with the Angels from 2018-23.
Ohtani hasn’t pitched in a major league game since Aug. 23, 2023, for the Angels. He is recovering from right elbow surgery on Sept. 19, 2023.
There is no timetable for his return to the mound. Ohtani did not throw any sliders in the bullpen. He simulated a two-inning outing by throwing 25 pitches, resting and then finishing with 25 more pitches. Â
The Dodgers’ pitching staff has been hit hard by injuries this season. Kershaw began the year on the injured list, while fellow starters Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki are currently on the IL.Â
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Kershaw made seven big league starts last year, going 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA before his season ended Aug. 30 because of pain in his left big toe. His injuries prevented him from pitching in the postseason as the Dodgers won their eighth World Series championship.
By throwing his first pitch Saturday night, Kershaw began his 18th season with the Dodgers, tying the franchise record also held by Zack Wheat and Bill Russell.
Kershaw entered 212-94 with a 2.50 ERA in 432 appearances (429 starts) since making his debut for the Dodgers in 2008. The club’s all-time strikeout leader needs 30 to reach 3,000 in his illustrious career.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Red Sox’s Jarren Duran on move to left field, winning at Fenway Park | King of the Diamond
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On this edition of John Smoltz’s “King of the Diamond”, Jarren Duran discussed winning at Fenway Park in walk-off fashion and his move to Left Field this season for the Boston Red Sox.
JUST IN・Major League Baseball・1:52
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Giants use walk-off walk to beat the Athletics in the 10th inning
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Wilmer Flores drew a bases-loaded walk on the ninth pitch from Mason Miller with two outs in the 10th inning to bring home Willy Adames and send the San Francisco Giants to a 1-0 win against the Athletics on Saturday night.
Miller (0-2) intentionally walked Mike Yastrzemski to bring up Flores with the game on the line a night after the Giants slugger hit three home runs with a grand slam and drove in eight runs in a 9-1 win. Miller walked LaMonte Wade Jr. to start the inning with Adames as the automatic baserunner at second.
Camilo Doval (3-1) tossed a perfect ninth for the win in the 2-hour, 23-minute game.
A sellout crowd was treated to a pitcher’s duel in what for so long was called the Bay Bridge Series but is now being deemed the “Highway 80 Series” since the A’s relocated from Oakland to West Sacramento for what is expected to be three seasons before a planned move into a new ballpark in Las Vegas.
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Landen Roupp, facing the Athletics for the first time, struck out five and allowed five hits pitching six scoreless innings for the Giants before giving way to Randy Rodriguez in the seventh.
A’s starter Luis Severino escaped a jam in the third. He walked Flores in the third to load the bases the struck out Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos to end the threat.
San Francisco’s rotation will have a new look next week, when Hayden Birdsong starts Tuesday against Kansas City and Jordan Hicks moves into the bullpen.
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Key moment
Hoo Lee made a sensational catch on the wall in center field to rob Brent Rooker of a likely extra-base hit for the A’s in the first. Tyler Soderstrom followed with a double, making the defensive gem a crucial one.
Key stat
The A’s starters are 1-5 over their last 10 games.
Up next
Jeffrey Springs (5-3, 4.27 ERA) takes the mound for the A’s in the series finale while 42-year-old Justin Verlander (0-3, 4.31) tries again for his first victory of the season in his 10th start since signing a $15 million, one-year contract with the Giants.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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Twins extend winning streak to 13 games, their longest since 1991 season
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The Minnesota Twins stayed hot on Saturday to earn their 13th straight win, blanking the Milwaukee Brewers 7-0. While the Twins’ current winning streak is the longest in Major League Baseball this season, it isn’t the longest in team history since the franchise moved to Minnesota.Â
That record belongs to the 1991 Twins, who reeled off 15 victories in a row and went on to win the World Series that year. But the 2025 Twins can claim a franchise record of their own: They have pitched 33 straight scoreless innings.
The Twins haven’t allowed a run since giving up six of them in the third inning of an 8-6 victory at Baltimore in the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday.
Milwaukee has been shut out in four of its last five games, the first time that’s happened in franchise history, according to Sportradar. According to Sportradar, the last team to get shut out four times in a five-game stretch was the Miami Marlins in July 2022.
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Ryan Jeffers went 4-for-5 with a homer and double, and Kody Clemens went 3-for-5 with a homer as the Twins collected 18 hits.
Twins starter Pablo Lopez combined with three relievers on a three-hitter. López (4-2) struck out six and allowed two hits and two walks in six innings. Justin Topa, Jorge Alcala and Kody Funderburk each pitched one inning of relief.
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The Twins took control of the game by scoring single runs in each of the first six innings. Four of those runs came off Tobias Myers, who was sent to the minors earlier this week before getting called back up when left-hander Jose Quintana went on the injured list.
Jeffers opened the scoring by hitting a 420-foot shot to left-center with one out in the first inning. He also doubled and scored in the third, singled in the fourth and singled in the eighth.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Boone: Yankees had interest in Griffin Canning during offseason
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Griffin Canning took the mound at Yankee Stadium on Saturday wearing a New York Mets jersey, but had things played out differently for the Yankees this past offseason, he might have donned the iconic pinstripes instead.
Before the Mets’ 3-2 win over the Yankees on Saturday, in which Canning pitched 5.1 innings and allowed the only two runs of the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed that the team had internal discussions about signing the former Angels pitcher.
“He was a guy we had interest in this winter and spoke with him,” Boone told reporters. “I’m not overly surprised by the success he’s having.”
The Yankees opted to go in a different direction, signing LHP Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract, which is the largest contract in MLB history for a left-handed pitcher. The move came after the Yankees lost Juan Soto in free agency to the Mets.
“If we didn’t end up with Fried and this second group of players, we probably would have gone the Soto-Canning path,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake told the Daily News.
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The Mets signed Canning to a team-friendly one-year, $4.25 million deal. Through his first month with the Mets, he’s made that deal look like a bargain, posting a 2.47 ERA in five wins and one loss.
The Yankees and Mets are tied at one game a piece in their MLB Rivalry Weekend series. They’ll wrap up the series on Sunday at 7:10 p.m. ET.
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Griffin Canning
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Nationals’ Luis GarcÃa and Jacob Young spark a six-run first inning against Orioles
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Washington Nationals’ Luis GarcÃa and Jacob Young sparked a six-run first inning against the Baltimore Orioles.
20 MINS AGO・Major League Baseball・0:29
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Antonio Brown briefly detained at boxing event
Associated Press
May 17, 2025, 03:00 PM ET
MIAMI — Antonio Brown was briefly detained by police early Saturday after an altercation in which gunshots were fired outside a celebrity boxing event in Miami, according to the former NFL star and video posted to social media.
Miami police said in a statement that officers responded to the area at about 3 a.m. after receiving an alert from the gunshot-detection system ShotSpotter. Officer Kiara Delva, a department spokeswoman, said police questioned several people but made no arrests. No injuries were reported at the scene.
The investigation continues, Delva said, and she could not confirm the
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Baltimore Orioles fire Brandon Hyde as manager amid dismal start
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The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde on Saturday after a dismal start to the season by a team coming off two consecutive playoff appearances.
The Orioles are 15-28 and in last place in the AL East following a loss to Washington on Friday night. Hyde guided the team through an extensive rebuild and won manager of the year honors in 2023, but Baltimore’s performance slipped noticeably during the second half of last year, and the Orioles have put themselves in a significant hole so far in 2025.
“As the head of baseball operations, the poor start to our season is ultimately my responsibility,” Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said in a statement. “Part of that responsibility is pursuing difficult changes in order to set a different course for the future. I want to thank Brandon for his hard work, dedication and passion all these years, and for returning the team to the playoffs and winning an AL East championship.”
Third base coach Tony Mansolino will serve as interim manager. The Orioles also fired major league field coordinator/catching instructor Tim Cossins.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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