A look at what’s happening around the majors on Monday:
___
DERBY DAY
Pete Alonso, Albert Pujols and Kyle Schwarber tee off in the All-Star Home Run Derby at Dodger Stadium, where we see how far and fast the sluggers can launch ’em into the Los Angeles twilight.
Alonso is trying to become the first player to win the derby three straight times. He tops the majors with 78 RBIs and has hit 24 home runs this season for the NL East-leading New York Mets.
Alonso takes on Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. in the first round. The other pairings: Schwarber vs. Pujols, Juan Soto vs. José Ramírez and Julio Rodríguez vs. Corey Seager.
Schwaber’s 29 homers for Philadelphia are the most among the eight contestants. Aaron Judge of the Yankees leads the majors with 33 home runs and will start Tuesday in the All-Star Game, but isn’t taking part in the longball event.
Seager, the 2020 World Series MVP when the Dodgers won the title, has hit 22 homers for Texas in his first season since leaving Los Angeles.
Pujols has hit six homers this year for St. Louis, boosting his career total to 685. He’s 42 years old and made his big league debut just a few months after Rodríguez was born — a rookie at 21, Rodríguez has hit 16 homers for Seattle.
SALE SETBACK
The Red Sox hope for good news as lefty Chris Sale heads to see a specialist in Boston about the broken pinkie finger on his pitching hand.
An injury-plagued season for Sale got worse for the seven-time All-Star when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Aaron Hicks at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.
Sale screamed in pain after being struck by the 106.7-mph liner. The ball deflected into right field for an RBI single that gave New York a 3-0 lead.
“One look at this finger, I knew (it was broken)…
Leave a Reply