Daily Clips

May 5, 2018

LOCALRoyals win with flair as Soler caps 4-run 8thRight fielder also makes stellar catch in 9th against TigersMay 4, 2018 By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/royals/news/jorge-solers-hit-caps-royals-winning-rally/c-275263706

Royals promote Adam; Barlow sent to OmahaMay 4, 2018 By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/royals/news/royals-promote-righty-jason-adam-from-minors/c-275243758

Jorge Soler saves the Royals again in win over TigersMay 4, 2018 By Maria Torres/KC Starhttp://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article210516264.html

After eight years, surgeries and setbacks, this pitcher is close to his Royals debutMay 4, 2018 By Maria Torres/KC Starhttp://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article210504269.html

Royals fan frees bat stuck in netting at The K, gets it taken away to chorus of boosMay 4, 2018 By Pete Grathoff/KC Starhttp://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article210454404.html

Here is the Statcast breakdown of Jorge Soler's mammoth home run for RoyalsMay 4, 2018 By Pete Grathoff/KC Starhttp://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article210451809.html

Worth the wait: Royals’ Whit Merrifield has had a major impact after long wait in the minorsMay 4, 2018 By Dave Brown/The Athletichttps://theathletic.com/343278/2018/05/05/worth-the-wait-royals-whit-merrifield-has-had-a-major-impact-after-long-wait-in-the-minors/

MINORS'Cakes Batter Chasers 8-4 In Front of 8,118

Dozier drives in 2 in front of season-high crowd of 8,118May 4, 2018 By Omaha Storm Chasershttps://www.milb.com/omaha/news/cakes-batter-chasers-8-4-in-front-of-8118/c-275331802

Five-Run Fifth Dooms Naturals In FinaleMay 4, 2018 By Northwest Arkansas Naturalshttps://www.milb.com/northwest-arkansas/news/five-run-fifth-dooms-naturals-in-finale/c-275330604

Deuces Wild in Blue Rocks WinRocks Outlast Keys in VictoryMay 4, 2018 By Wilmington Blue Rockshttps://www.milb.com/wilmington/news/deuces-wild-in-blue-rocks-win/c-275317438

NATIONALWith the “Hall of Game,” another way to remember those who played with passion and flairMay 4, 2018 By Joe Posnanski/The Athletichttps://theathletic.com/341668/2018/05/04/posnanski-with-the-hall-of-game-another-way-to-remember-those-who-played-with-passion-and-flair/

Pujols adds 3,000-hit club to historic resumeAngels slugger also gets No. 3,001 to pass Clemente for 31st all-timeMay 4, 2018 By Maria Guardado/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/angels/news/albert-pujols-gets-his-3000th-hit/c-275253320

Tigers place Miggy on DL with hamstring strainMay 4, 2018 By Jason Beck/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/tigers/news/miguel-cabrera-injured-placed-on-disabled-list/c-275241532

Buehler leads LA's combined no-no in MexicoFeat is 12th combined no-hitter in Major League history, first by DodgersMay 4, 2018 By Ken Gurnick/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/dodgers/news/four-dodgers-combine-for-no-hitter-vs-padres/c-275327552

MLB TRANSACTIONSMay 5, 2018 •.CBSSports.comhttp://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions

LOCAL

Royals win with flair as Soler caps 4-run 8thRight fielder also makes stellar catch in 9th against TigersMay 4, 2018 By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/royals/news/jorge-solers-hit-caps-royals-winning-rally/c-275263706

There is no stopping Jorge Soler right now.

Soler ripped a two-out, two-run single during a four-run rally in the eighth inning on Friday night that lifted the Royals to a 4-2 win over the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium.

Soler now has a 10-game hitting streak, tying a career high. He also has a 19-game on-base streak. The go-ahead hit came off a slider from Joe Jimenez.

"I'm always looking fastball," Soler said through interpreter Pedro Grifol. "He threw me a slider. I saw it well and I connected."

Soler also made a dazzling, sliding catch in the ninth inning with closer Kelvin Herrera on the mound. Statcast™ determined the catch was a three-star play -- Soler covered 63 feet in four seconds to make the play in foul ground.

"The play, it was really exciting," Soler said. "I was playing in. When I saw the line drive heading to the wall, I was like, 'Let's slide.' It's a play we've been practicing. We were working on that earlier today."

The Royals, who have won the first two in this four-game set and are looking for their first series win of the season, scored earlier in the inning on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly to deep right field by Whit Merrifield.

"In that situation, my approach is always drive the ball to center field," Merrifield said. "He threw a ball, pretty good pitch down and away. When my approach is good my swing is pretty good."

Royals reliever Blaine Boyer was headed toward a fifth straight scoreless outing until he hung a 3-2 slider to JaCoby Jones with two on and two out in the eighth inning. Jones smacked it into the left-field corner for a two-run double, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

The Royals, who tied a season high with 10 runs on Thursday, were stifled by Tigers left-hander Francisco Liriano, who pitched seven scoreless innings before leaving after walking the leadoff hitter in the eighth.

Royals starter Ian Kennedy was solid in throwing six shutout innings, his best outing since April 7 when he also threw six scoreless against the Indians. Kennedy gave up six hits, walked one and struck out seven.

"He did a good job getting out of jams," manager Ned Yost said. "He expended everything he had … He made pitches when he needed to."

Kennedy threw 103 pitches, 69 for strikes.

MOMENT THAT MATTEREDKennedy worked out of a few jams, none bigger than in the sixth inning. With one out, Nicholas Castellanos walked and Victor Martinez followed with a single to right, sending

Castellanos to third. Kennedy got Jones to strike out on a changeup. Kennedy then got ahead of John Hicks, 0-2, and tried to retire him on two straight curveballs and a four-seam fastball. Then after another curve missed, Kennedy got Hicks to fly out on a four-seam fastball, ending the threat.

MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAYThe Royals won yet another challenge in the seventh when Tigers catcher James McCann originally was ruled safe on a steal attempt of second. But replays showed McCann came off the bag during his slide as shortstop Alcides Escobar kept the tag on. Royals replay specialist Bill Duplissea now is 9-for-9 in challenges.

UP NEXTRight-hander Jason Hammel (0-3, 4.91 ERA) will take the mound on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. CT as the Royals square off against the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. Right-hander Jordan Zimmermann (1-0, 5.81) will start for Detroit. Hammel had his roughest outing of the season on Monday night in Boston, giving up a season-high eight runs on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings. The game is available on FS1 and MLB.TV.

Royals promote Adam; Barlow sent to OmahaMay 4, 2018 By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/royals/news/royals-promote-righty-jason-adam-from-minors/c-275243758

As right-hander Jason Adam was shown his locker in the vast Royals clubhouse on Friday afternoon, one by one his former teammates from the Minor Leagues came by to hug and greet him.

First there was Whit Merrifield. Then Tim Hill. Then Cheslor Cuthbert. Then Kevin McCarthy. They just kept coming.

"He's just a great, great guy that you want to root for," Merrifield said.

Adam's contract was selected by the Royals from Triple-A Omaha and righty reliever Scott Barlow was optioned prior to Friday night's 4-2 win over the Tigers. As Adam arrived in the clubhouse, he couldn't stop from smiling, knowing full well the journey to get there was so remarkable.

"This is special and pretty indescribable," Adam said. "It's something I dreamed about since 2010 and even before that. Tough to put into words."

Adam, 26, had been a fifth-round pick by the Royals in the 2010 MLB Draft out of Blue Valley Northwest High School in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kan. He was a promising prospect with a big fastball and a plus curveball, and he was rising through the system quickly.

But late in the 2014 season, with the Royals on their verge of their first playoff appearance in 29 years and in need of a veteran bat, they dealt Adam to the Twins for Josh Willingham.

Willingham will be remembered in Royals lore for a pinch-hit single that started the game-tying rally in the ninth inning of the American League Wild Card Game that season. At least Adam now can feel he contributed in a small way to that 2014 playoff run.

"I was not thrilled about [the trade]," Adam said, smiling. "I was excited about the opportunity with the Twins. But being

from Kansas City ... yet seeing them have success, it gave me peace to know I had something to do with it."

Adam never really got a chance to show the Twins what he could do. After the season, he felt some discomfort in his right elbow and it was determined he had a stress fracture in the area. He subsequently had surgery -- two screws were inserted to stabilize the elbow -- and was told he'd be ready to throw by the spring of 2015.

But Adam found that he couldn't even straighten his arm that spring. A follow-up surgery was ordered to remove excess tissue in the elbow and triceps tendon. And then another surgery was ordered. And then another.

Surgery, and rehab, and surgery became a way of life. Adam wound up missing all of 2015 and '16.

"I never lost faith," Adam said. "I mean, there were times you're tested, like surgery No. 4, you start to think this might be pretty unrealistic. But my wife kept pushing me on the right track, just keeping me faithful through the journey."

Adam's elbow finally returned to a normal size and he finally got healthy enough to pitch last August for the Twins' Double-A affiliate in San Antonio. He pitched two scoreless innings, but he was released the next day.

The Royals called almost immediately, and Adam jumped at the opportunity get back into the organization.

After a strong Spring Training, Adam posted a 1.59 ERA in six games at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He was quickly promoted to Omaha, and his 97-mph fastball and sharp curve dominated there, too -- a 0.00 ERA through four games.

The call came from the Royals on Friday that he was being brought to the Majors. Adam got off his phone and raced to the hotel room in Omaha where he and his wife, Kelsey, who is expecting their first child in June, were staying.

"I just told her, 'We can't be going to Buy Buy Baby. We're going to Kansas City,'" Adam said.

Jorge Soler saves the Royals again in win over TigersMay 4, 2018 By Maria Torres/KC Starhttp://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article210516264.html

If there was any momentum to be built after Thursday’s barrage of 10 runs on 13 hits, it did not seem the Royals would take advantage of it Friday.

They had tallied three hits through seven innings against the Tigers. They stranded only one man on base — but it was because Whit Merrifield, Salvador Perez and Lucas Duda each grounded into inning-ending double plays against Detroit starting pitcher Francisco Liriano.

But when reliever Joe Jimenez entered the Royals’ half of the eighth inning with one out and the bases loaded, the Royals rallied for a 4-2 win at Kauffman Stadium.

Royals outfielder Jorge Soler, who has reached base in 19 straight games and is the owner of a career-best 10-game hitting streak, scorched a go-ahead, two-run single up the third-base side and under the glove of the Tigers’ James McCann. Moments later, Soler augmented the joy of Royals

fans in attendance by making a sliding grab in foul territory for the second out of the ninth inning.

Soler has provided similar firepower on multiple occasions this week, including an extra-innings, go-ahead home run against the Red Sox in Boston on Tuesday and a tie-breaking solo blast in Thursday's win.

In the moments after Perez dumped a bucket of ice water down his back, Soler took more joy in his defensive performance than anything else. MLB's Statcast system rated the ninth-inning play a three-star catch: Soler covered 63 feet in 4 seconds.

"I was playing in. When I saw the line drive heading to the wall, I was like, ‘Let’s slide,'" Soler said. "It’s a play we’ve been practicing. We were working on that early today."

The Royals improved to 10-22, with neither Liriano or Royals starting pitcher Ian Kennedy (six scoreless innings, three hits, one walk, seven strikeouts) factoring into the decision.

Instead, Blaine Boyer, who allowed two runs on a two-out double to the Tigers' JaCoby Jones in the eighth that put the Royals at a 2-0 disadvantage, won his first game in a Royals uniform. Kelvin Herrera notched his sixth save.

And Soler went home the savior again.

"We all know the talent he has," Merrifield said. "Knew it was a matter of time before he started putting it together. Everyone now can sort of see what he’s capable of."

After eight years, surgeries and setbacks, this pitcher is close to his Royals debutMay 4, 2018 By Maria Torres/KC Starhttp://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-city-royals/article210504269.html

The story of Royals reliever Jason Adam’s first major-league call-up begins in a barber’s chair in Nebraska.

It has to.

In that chair on Friday morning, Adam, a right-handed pitcher from Overland Park who was promoted to Class AAA Omaha a mere 10 days ago, learned for the first time in his nearly eight-year professional career that a major-league team wanted him on its roster.

He had spent his previous three seasons rehabbing from a series of four elbow surgeries on the arm that made him the Royals’ fifth-round draft pick in 2010 out of Blue Valley Northwest. He’d been traded from Kansas City to the Twins for Josh Willingham in 2014. He’d missed the 2015 and '16 seasons rehabbing and suffered a setback with the Padres last spring training that limited him to 13 late-season outings.

In spite of it all, the Royals wanted him to join their bullpen at Kauffman Stadium for Friday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers. They had just made room on their 40-man roster to select his contract after out-righting Brandon Maurer and optioning Scott Barlow to Class AAA Omaha.

Relief washed over Adam.

The chair provided him a respite — once he’d gotten over the initial dread that accompanied the phone call, anyway.

“I call (Omaha manager Brian Poldberg) and he goes, ‘I know I had to give you this news a couple years ago but we traded you again,’” Adam said. “I go, ‘You can’t be serious.’ He goes, ‘No, I’m kidding. You’re going to KC.’ I was speechless.”

You can’t fault him that. Adam is 26, and he’s already been a free agent twice. When doctors had to go back into his elbow for a fourth surgery prior to the 2015 season — this one placed one screw that still holds the once-fractured elbow together — a major-league debut seemed unrealistic.

Adam couldn’t think of much beyond “crazy" as an accurate description of his emotions.

“I wish I could put it into words,” he said. “You dream about this day since you’re 8 years old. But to have it be in your hometown — it’s crazy. I can’t explain it.”

At this point, he doesn’t need to. His winding journey has done much of that for him.

“That’ll say something about his character when he steps on that mound, too,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “That he’s a fighter, he’s a competitor and he’s gonna go out and do everything he can be to be successful.”

In recent months, Adam has been so successful that the Royals began keeping closer tabs on him. They signed him back in August, just four days after the Padres released him following his only outing with their Class AA affiliate. A Royals pitching coordinator had seen Adam pitching during his rehab in Arizona and puzzled over Adam’s release.

“We always keep tabs on the guys we trade,” said Royals assistant general manager Scott Sharp.

The Royals saw potential. Adam pitched in seven games with their Class AA Northwest Arkansas club at the end of the season and returned to the Naturals after spring training.

Since then, Adam has posted a 1.00 ERA in 10 games spanning 18 innings between stints at Northwest Arkansas and Omaha. He has reached 97 mph with his fastball and thrown a curveball that helped him limit batters to a .119 batting average and rack up 26 strikeouts.

Maurer, the struggling reliever optioned down to Omaha last month, was nowhere near ready to rejoin the major-league club. He had a 13.50 ERA in seven outings when the Royals took him off their 40-man roster on Thursday.

And Barlow, who pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief for the Royals in two games this week, needed consistent work as a starter in Omaha’s rotation to continue his development.

So it was that Adam, who was a starter before the stress fracture derailed his career, became the next man to help shore up the Royals bullpen.

“I feel like everything’s come full circle. It’s been really fun to see,” said Adam, who went through with a haircut before he left the barber's chair and apprised his wife and family of the news.

It has been for his teammates, too. Second baseman Whit Merrifield, a member of the same 2010 draft class, engulfed

Adam in a bear hug as soon as Adam checked in with Yost upon arrival at Kauffman Stadium.

Merrifield hadn’t seen Adam since spring training, when the pitcher slept on a pull-out couch in Merrifield's living room.

“One of my best guys,” Merrifield said. “I’m glad he’s here.”

Royals fan frees bat stuck in netting at The K, gets it taken away to chorus of boosMay 4, 2018 By Pete Grathoff/KC Starhttp://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article210454404.html

At first, Tyler Lambert wasn't sure the bat was going to be stopped by the protective netting at Kauffman Stadium.

In the fourth inning of the Royals' 10-6 win Thursday over the Tigers, Detroit catcher James McCann lost control of his bat and it flew into the net high above the Tigers dugout.

Lambert, who lives in Kansas City, was sitting with a friend nearby and expressed relief that the barrel of the bat stuck in the net.

Then he sprang into action.

"I thought if we wait for the Royals to figure out what to do, there might be a 30-minute delay," Lambert joked. "It was just my instinct to jump up and grab it.

"I honestly hopped up there because I thought that the bat was going to fall out and hit the lady in front of me."

Lambert, 31, leaped on the dugout, shook the net and dislodged the bat, which he caught with one hand. In the other hand was a beer, and nary a drop was spilled.

That drew a big cheer from fans, because honestly, it was an impressive feat.

But when Lambert stepped down off the dugout, he was surprised by a team official, who grabbed the bat.

Lambert didn't realize someone was there to take his prize.

"To be 100 percent honest, if I had known he was going to take it, I would have held onto the bat a lot harder," Lambert said. "As soon as I looked up to go to my seat, he was grabbing it out of my hand."

While Ryan Lefebvre of Fox Sports Kansas City predicted Lambert would be kicked out of the game, the official never said a word to Lambert, who stayed and watched the rest of the game.

"I'd have taken the bat with me if I would have been kicked out," Lambert said. "I'm not exactly a small guy, it would have taken a few guys to take me out of the game."

In fact, he believed the bat was his to take.

"I always thought if it was on that side of the net or made it into the stands, it was fair game," Lambert said.

When McCann was leaving the field in the fifth inning, Lambert asked for something in return for involuntarily

giving up the bat. McCann later called Lambert to the side of the dugout and gave him this:

While happy for the souvenir, Lambert would have preferred a bat or perhaps tickets to a future game, but he also got a bit of notoriety. Friends blew up his phone, and a clip of his work on the dugout made it on a national broadcast.

Oh, and Lambert got another memento.

"I had pine tar on my hands the rest of the game," he said. "My beer had condensation on the outside of the cup and my hand was still sticky."

He'd rather have the bat.

Here is the Statcast breakdown of Jorge Soler's mammoth home run for RoyalsMay 4, 2018 By Pete Grathoff/KC Starhttp://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article210451809.html

It wasn't the longest home run that Royals outfielder Jorge Soler has hit at Kauffman Stadium.

A year ago, Soler crushed a pitch over the batter's eye in center field that traveled 464 feet. Still, the 441-foot home run hit by Soler during the Royals' 10-6 win over the Tigers was a tremendous blast.

The Star's Sam Mellinger talked with Soler about the bomb, and Soler was well aware that he got all of the pitch.

Statcast broke down the home run, which showed the ball had an exit velocity of 107.9 mph (the pitch itself was an 86 mph change-up).

Worth the wait: Royals’ Whit Merrifield has had a major impact after long wait in the minorsMay 4, 2018 By Dave Brown/The Athletichttps://theathletic.com/343278/2018/05/05/worth-the-wait-royals-whit-merrifield-has-had-a-major-impact-after-long-wait-in-the-minors/

Whit Merrifield found himself on top of the baseball world while simultaneously at the bottom of a massive pile of humanity in 2010 when he got the game-winning hit for South Carolina in the championship game of the College World Series. As a ninth-round pick of the Kansas City Royals, it took him another grueling six years to reach the major leagues.

Still motivated by almost not making it, Merrifield has been one of the Royals better players since breaking in during the 2016 season. He led the AL in stolen bases in 2017, and continues to show utility by trying center field on a team looking for any edge it can. Before a recent game, Merrifield took a few moments with The Athletic to talk about his journey to the majors, golf, his family of quirky names and his own nicknames, none of which have been fully satisfying.

The Athletic: Born in South Carolina, grew up in North Carolina, went to college at South Carolina — why all the flip-floppin’?

Whit Merrifield: Well, I was born in South Carolina but I was probably there a whole two months of my life and my family moved without asking me but… by the time it was time for college, South Carolina was the best fit, I thought, for where I wanted to go. And they gave me a scholarship! So that’s where I went.

TA: The Royals are known for their postgame celebrations but what was it like to get crushed by the rest of the team after you got the winning hit in the CWS? Any bruises still from 2010?

WM: Ha, nothing lingering. I definitely had the chance in the big leagues to play a championship-type game, so we could give these guys the benefit of the doubt. But the World Series celebration in college was the biggest moment in my baseball career, unmatched to this point.

TA: South Carolina has a state. North Carolina has a state. What’s your position on statehood for East Carolina?

WM: Not in our lifetimes. Not deserving, sorry.

TA: To reflect your occasional appearance in center field or other OF spots, I have created the hashtag #MittWhereHeField? for social media. Is that clever enough to keep repeating?

WM: You can do what you want — it’s a free country — but I don’t know how much life that one has.

TA: Playing CF looks terrifying. Is it as hard as it looks?

WM: I think it’s the easiest of the outfield positions to cover. The ball doesn’t dance as much on you. You’ve got to run a little farther but on the corners, the ball is slicing and hooking so it’s a little tougher. You see a great athlete like Dee Gordon play out there and he’s doing fine in the transition. If you have the speed it can make up for some other things. It takes time to learn fully but speed is a big difference maker.

TA: I remember when you were called up and they interviewed your family at the ballpark and the first thing I wondered was, who were these actors? But isn’t that actually the case with some of them, that they are professional entertainers?

WM: Close, maybe? Not really. My brother, who’s a senior in high school now, he did get a role as Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum in a school play. My sister’s had a job working video for for the Charlotte Knights minor league team, and did work on camera for NASCAR, but she’s in real estate now. My dad is in sports administration for Wake Forest, and he used to be a ballplayer. And mom does her thing, but that’s really about as exciting as the Merrifields get.

TA: Your mom did get creative naming you guys. Whitley, Costner (your sister), and Hite.

WM: My dad’s best friend’s last name is Whitley. My brother and sister are both named after my mom’s family. My sister’s name is Costner — a family name with my mom’s side. And my brother is Hite, which is my mom’s maiden name. He’s William Hite and goes by the middle.

TA: You ever have a middle-name phase? David is a very nice name.

WM: It is but I just went by what everybody called me. If someone had thought to use my middle name more, who

knows? I could be “Royals second baseman Dave Merrifield.”

TA: Do you have a favorite Kevin Costner baseball movie? For Love of the Game? Field of Dreams?

WM: How about some love for Bull Durham? I probably identify more with that one.

TA: You said that your dad coined the phrase “Whit Bird” but I did not see his explanation as to why? Is there one as far as you know?

WM: I think it was just one of those things that dads say. It wasn’t the only thing he ever called me, even things that had “Whit” in them. But that one stuck a little. So when we had to think of a nickname for the Players Weekend, I needed a name from something, so that’s what we came up with.

TA: The people have come up with some nicknames and phrases for you: “Two-Hit Whit” is one. “Cool Whit.” Neither of those make the cut for Players Weekend?

WM: I’m not gonna put “Two-Hit Whit” on the back of my jersey, no.

TA: You’d be raising expectations too high?

WM: Yeah, I don’t think it would go over too well, be received very well, by my peers.

TA: More so by the other team?

WM: Exactly.

TA Do you even like birds?

WM: Not particularly, no.

TA: Pivoting, your name really sounds like someone who was born to be a golfer and, sure enough, your social media is full of pics of you at the golf course. What are some of the courses you’ve played around the world? Has the Royal Merrifield played Royal Muirfield?

WM: Would love to. Maybe one day. Haven’t yet. It’s a beautiful course. I have played all over the country — New York to California, from Seattle to Florida. Wherever we’re playing, if we have an off day, I usually try to find a nice course to play.

TA: Pebble Beach?

WM: Played it, probably, seven or eight times? It’s one of my favorites, if not my favorite. I’m partial to No. 6 and No. 7. Six is a par-5, seven is a par-3. It’s pretty scenic there on the cliff. Pretty special.

TA: How long you hit your driver?

WM: I can hit relatively far. I’m a decent golfer but I’d like to get a lot better. I’m something like a 9-handicap or a 10. I’m good enough to keep wanting to play and get better.

TA: Have you played a round with KC native Tom Watson yet? That seems like something the Royals would set set up.

WM: No, that’d be fun though. I’ve seen him a couple times in spring training but not on the course.

TA: Will Tiger win any more majors or is he toast?

WM: I hope so. I like watching him play. Golf’s in a better state when Tiger’s playing well.

TA: Speaking of toast, are you still eating seven meals a day?

WM: Nope, just the normal amount. I’m back to being a normal eater. I’m where I want to be, so now I just want to stay here.

TA: You didn’t have to go and hire a personal chef to keep the healthy meals coming?

WM: I’m not that well established to have my own personal chef. That’s still out of my budget.

TA: On that note, are some minor leaguers in peril when it comes to making ends meet on a non-MLB salary?

WM: No doubt. It’s kind of a joke how much you get paid in the minor leagues. It’s amazing that some people can last as long as they do down there. Obviously, we’d all like to see that get changed.

TA: Did that impact how long you wanted to keep playing?

WM: Oh, yeah, for sure. I wanted to… thought about hanging it up multiple times. I was fortunate enough to be in a situation where I could make it work with the money I was making down there, but not everyone has parents that can do that or will do that. It’s a tough life.

TA: Do minor leaguers feel like they can’t complain about it because it would be used against them? Maybe their dreams would be taken away?

WM: Maybe a little bit. It’s a little bit of a catch-22, especially for guys that weren’t drafted highly, and don’t have a lot of money invested in them, you don’t have a lot of opportunities, so, yeah, at a certain point, they hold all the cards.

TA: Is it as simple as doubling the pay, or some kind of significant raise?

WM: I don’t know, numbers-wise, what it should get to, but to make $800-900 a month, for five months out of the year, I mean, nobody can really live off that. I don’t know what needs to be done but that’s a tough way to live when that’s all that you got.

TA: Should the MLBPA take the minor leaguers into the union?

WM: That, I don’t know about.

MINORS'Cakes Batter Chasers 8-4 In Front of 8,118Dozier drives in 2 in front of season-high crowd of 8,118May 4, 2018 By Omaha Storm Chasershttps://www.milb.com/omaha/news/cakes-batter-chasers-8-4-in-front-of-8118/c-275331802

Storm Chasers right fielder Hunter Dozier drove in two runs and recorded his second outfield assist in as many games, while New Orleans starter Sandy Alcantara twirled seven solid innings of work while being supported by a six-run sixth inning in the Baby Cakes' 8-4 victory over Omaha in front of a season-high 8,118 fans on Friday night at Werner Park.

Dozier drove in the first of his two runs in the opening frame with an RBI single to left, as the Storm Chasers struck first for the fourth straight contest. New Orleans 1B Jonathan Rodriguez later blasted an opposite field solo homer to right to knot the match even at 1-1 before the Baby Cakes broke out with a six-run sixth.

Following an additional single tally in the seventh, Dozier brought across his second RBI of the evening as part of a two-run eighth to narrow the deficit to 8-3. Omaha's final run would follow in the ninth courtesy of C Cam Gallagher 's run-scoring knock to center.

All nine Baby Cakes batters recorded a hit in the contest, including multi-hit efforts from RF Isaac Galloway (2-5, R), 3B Eric Campbell (2-4, 2 R, BB), SS JT Riddle (3-5, R, 2B, 3 RBI), DH Tomas Telis (2-4, R, RBI) and LF Austin Dean (2-4, 3B, 2 RBI). 2B Ramon Torres (2-4, R, 2B) and 3B Humberto Arteaga (2-3, R, BB) were the only two Storm Chasers hitters to tally multiple knocks.

After an inauspicious initial inning, Alcantara (7.0 IP, 4 H, R, ER, BB, 5 K) would settle down and set down 19 of the final 22 batters faced, including 13 of 14 hitters between the second through fifth frames, to earn his first Triple-A triumph. Omaha starter Jonathan Dziedzic (5.2 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, BB, 5 K) suffered the defeat, while Storm Chasers southpaw Eric Stout (2.0 IP, 4 H, 2 K) fired the final two frames.

The two teams are set return to Werner Park for the second matchup of their four-game series on Saturday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CT. RHP Andres Machado (0-3, 7.91) is anticipated to get the nod for Omaha, with New Orleans expected to give the ball to RHP Ben Meyer (1-2, 2.30).

Five-Run Fifth Dooms Naturals In FinaleMay 4, 2018 By Northwest Arkansas Naturalshttps://www.milb.com/northwest-arkansas/news/five-run-fifth-dooms-naturals-in-finale/c-275330604

Looking for a series win, Northwest Arkansas led 1-0 early but the Springfield Cardinals (15-11) exploded for a five-run fifth inning that doomed the Naturals (9-18) as they would fall 9-1 in front of a crowd of 6,965 at Arvest Ballpark.

The Cardinals held a 2-1 advantage entering the fifth frame when their offense came to life with two-outs to break open a tight game. Jeremy Martinez led off with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. After a strikeout, Blake Drake doubled to left-center field to plate Martinez. Ramon Urias followed with a RBI single to left field before Victor Roache capped the five-run inning with a three-run home run off reliever Jacob Bodner , whom came in to replace starter Foster Griffin (L, 2-3), to lead 7-1.

Springfield would add two more runs in the sixth on a RBI force out and another Urias run-scoring single to set the final at 9-1.

Northwest Arkansas struck first in the finale with a run in the second as Anderson Miller delivered a two-out RBI double to plate Luis Villegas . Villegas, whom reached on a fielder's choice, stole his first bag of the year to put himself in scoring position.

Springfield took advantage of a couple of walks and a fielding error to take a lead they would not relinquish in the top half of the third. Martinez scored on a bases-loaded walk by Drake before Thomas Spitz came in on a double-play ball for the 2-1 lead.

Griffin got the start and was solid through the first 2.0 frames but the Cardinal bats would get to him in the middle innings. In total, the big lefty worked 4.2 innings giving up six runs, two earned, on six hits while striking out one before giving way to the bullpen. Bodner, struggled in his appearance on Friday night as he gave up three runs on four hits in his lone inning of work.

LHP Jake Kalish was a bright spot out of the Naturals' bullpen as the left-hander struck out four in 3.1 scoreless frames.

Tonight's game concluded the homestand against the Double-A St. Louis Cardinals. Northwest Arkansas will now head down to North Little Rock for a four (4) game series against the Arkansas Travelers (Double-A Seattle Mariners) before returning home for a seven (7) game homestand at Arvest Ballpark from May 10 through May 17. Join Benjamin Kelly, the Voice of the Naturals, on AM 1490 - The Ticket 2 tomorrow night at 5:10 p.m. - Saturday, May 5 - for the series opener against the Travs

Deuces Wild in Blue Rocks WinRocks Outlast Keys in VictoryMay 4, 2018 By Wilmington Blue Rockshttps://www.milb.com/wilmington/news/deuces-wild-in-blue-rocks-win/c-275317438

The Wilmington Blue Rocks (13-14) came out on top in a back-and-forth battle against the Frederick Keys (10-18) with an 8-5 victory Friday night at Frawley Stadium. The Blue Rocks strung together four straight innings from the fifth to the eighth in which they plated a pair of runs to help pull away from the Keys in the series opener. Offensively, the Rocks had four different hitters collect multiple hits while D.J. Burt drove in a season-high three runs.

Wilmington erased a 2-0 deficit in the fifth inning. With runners at first and second and nobody out, Kort Peterson dropped a sacrifice bunt down. Frederick's starting pitcher Ofelky Peralta fielded the bunt and threw wide of third base to allow Chase Vallot to score, who was advancing to third on the play, to make it a 2-1 contest. Burt followed and slashed a double down the first base line to score Angelo Castellano to tie the game. In the top of the sixth inning, Frederick manufactured a run when Preston Palmeiro led the inning off with a triple and scored on a Randolph Gassaway groundout to put the Keys back in front, 3-2. Jomar Reyes followed with a solo homer to make it a 4-2 deficit for the Rocks.

The rallying Rocks tied the game in their half of the sixth with patience at the plate. With two outs in the inning, Chris DeVito singled before Vallot and Castellano each walked to load the bases. Peterson and Burt continued the trend and tied the game up with bases loaded walks to tie the game at 4-4.

In the seventh, the Rocks would take their first lead of the game when Emmanuel Rivera crushed a leadoff solo home run to put the Rocks ahead 5-4. Wilmington added another run in the frame thanks to Brandon Downes stealing second, advancing to third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error by Frederick's catcher Yojhan Quevedo to pad the Rocks' lead, 6-4. The Keys made it a one-run game again in the eighth inning on a fielder's choice before the Rocks added a pair of insurance runs in their half of the inning to pull away from Frederick.

The Blue Rocks and Keys play the second game of the three-game set on Saturday, May 5. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. with righty Anthony Bender (1-0, 3.79 ERA) making the start for Wilmington while right-hander Jhon Peluffo (2-0, 3.29 ERA) starts for Frederick. Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus and Cory Nidoh will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Emmanuel Rivera hit his second home run of the season as the third baseman reached base four times in Friday night's win. With the solo shot, Rivera added to his RBI total and now has 19 on the season which paces the Wilmington squad overall. Chase Vallot, Khalil Lee, and Kort Peterson are the other four hitters for Wilmington that has double-digit RBI on the season. Rivera also became the fifth Blue Rock to post multiple home runs on the year and is tied for third on the team with Brandon Downes and Khalil Lee. The Rocks have also hit a homer in 16 of the first 27 games of the season.

D.J. Burt turned in a productive night at the plate Friday, driving in a season-high three runs for his first, multi-RBI game of the season. It marked the first time since April 25 of last season the infielder drove in three runs in a game. Through 15 games this season, Burt is hitting .373 (19-for-51) and has six multi-hit games. Burt is spending his second season with the Rocks in more of a utility role, making starts at second base, shortstop and his first-career start in left field earlier this year.

The Rocks posted double-digit hits for the second time in three games. On Wednesday at Potomac, the Blue Crew set a season-high with 16 hits in a 12-7 win. Overall, Wilmington has collected three double-digit hit games this season. The first time the Rocks reached 10 or more hits was back on April 19 at Frederick. Overall, Wilmington is 3-0 when pounding out double-digit hits.

NATIONALWith the “Hall of Game,” another way to remember those who played with passion and flairMay 4, 2018 By Joe Posnanski/The Athletichttps://theathletic.com/341668/2018/05/04/posnanski-with-the-hall-of-game-another-way-to-remember-those-who-played-with-passion-and-flair/

Every now and again, my friend Bob Kendrick has a moment of inspiration. Bob is the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, and the challenges there are monumental. It’s tough keeping a museum going anywhere in America these days. Try doing it with a museum dedicated to a long-defunct baseball league made necessary

because of shameless and seemingly unbreakable segregation in Major League Baseball.

Bob believes — as I do — that the story of the Negro Leagues is an indispensable American story, a complicated story but one filled with more joy than sadness, more laughter than anger, more triumph than defeat. These men and women of the Negro Leagues helped change this country. They built the bridge, as Buck O’Neil used to say, that Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby and others walked across.

That’s why Bob constantly thinks about ways to tell that story to a new generation. Some of his ideas are good. Some — and he’d be the first to tell you this — don’t work. And every now and again, he has this moment of inspiration.

He will come up with something like the Hall of Game.

I spend roughly 67 percent of my waking hours thinking about the Baseball Hall of Fame. I can’t tell you exactly what it is that fascinates me about it — probably it’s that I just like remembering. There’s a wonderful moment in the Barry Levinson movie Avalon, where the family was trying to remember if the family patriarch came to America in 1925 or 1926, and one of the grandsons asked, “Come on… what difference does it make?”

And his father said, “If you stop remembering, you forget.”

So I like that the Baseball Hall of Fame never stops remembering. It matters to me who does and does not get into the Hall of Fame because we are remembering baseball and, in a small way, shaping how baseball will be remembered for the future.

But there’s a catch. The plaque room of the Hall of Fame celebrates players who achieved irreproachable greatness. That’s the whole point. To get in, a player needs a 75 percent approval rating. These are the best of the best, the top one percent, as the Hall often reminds us.

But baseball — and our experiences in baseball — revolves around so much more than just the top one percent. Was your favorite player growing up a Hall of Famer? Maybe he was. Probably he wasn’t. Think about the Al Oliver or Dale Murphy or Dwight Evans or Bret Saberhagen poster on your wall. My favorite player was Duane Kuiper. There were no posters of him available. I made one of newspaper photos.

What about these amazing players who will never get into the Hall of Fame but were no less successful at exploding the imagination? You have probably heard about the Hall of Very Good and other projects like it. They celebrate those great players who were not quite Hall of Famers.

Well, Bob came up with his own slightly different idea. He came up with the Negro Leagues Museum’s Hall of Game, which is simply this: A celebration of Major League players who “competed with the same passion, determination, skill and flair exhibited by the heroes of the Negro Leagues.” This year’s inductees will be honored June 9 at the Gem Theater in Kansas City, right across from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

For Bob, it is of course a new avenue to share the stories of Negro Leagues Baseball. But for the rest of us, this is something else. It is a whole other way to remember players.

Look: It’s only the fifth year of the award, but already you can see an extraordinary opportunity to look at baseball history in an entirely different way. There have been numerous Hall of Famers inducted — Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente, Joe Morgan, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Fergie Jenkins, Ozzie Smith, Orlando Cepeda, Tony Perez, Eddie Murray — but those aren’t the ones I find fascinating.

Maury Wills is one I find interesting. He was inducted into the Hall of Game last year. There have been many, many, many debates about Wills’ Hall of Fame case. He was an MVP, a five-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner and he brought the stolen base back into the game in a huge way. He also had a lifetime .331 slugging percentage and his 39.7 lifetime Wins Above Replacement is well shy of the Hall of Fame standard.

But there is no argument about his Hall of Game bonafides. This is because the Hall of Game is more about how amazing players played the game. That’s the brilliance of it.

This year, J.R. Richard will be inducted. He is not a Hall of Famer. J.R. Richard is one of baseball’s saddest stories. He was a high school phenom, a 6-foot-8 force of nature who once hit four homers in a game and, as a pitcher, did not allow a single run his senior season. Once he harnessed his talent, he was an extraordinary pitcher. He is one of only five pitchers (Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Curt Schilling and Sandy Koufax are the other four) to strike out 300 batters in consecutive seasons. He was on his way to the Hall of Fame.

And he was having his best year in 1980 when he had a stroke and collapsed in the outfield; he never pitched in the Major Leagues again.

You can’t really put J.R. Richard in the Hall of Fame. But you absolutely can and should put him in the Hall of Game.

Same with Mudcat Grant. He won 145 games and was the first African American pitcher in the American League to win 20 games in a season. But really he was the epitome of cool. He was so cool that after he got his nickname Mudcat because some minor leaguer thought he was from Mississippi (he was from Florida), he was not offended. He embraced that nickname, made it into something awesome. He became lead singer for a band called “Mudcat and the Kittens.”

Mudcat Grant isn’t going to the Hall of Fame. But in 1965, he won 21 games with a league-leading six shutouts, led the Minnesota Twins to an unlikely World Series where he twice beat the Dodgers, particularly in Game 6 where he pitched a complete game and hit a home run. Mudcat Grant played the game with flair and joy, and he should be remembered.

Now, he’s in the Hall of Game. And he will be remembered.

Let’s mention two more inductees this year: Dick Allen and Kenny Lofton. Dick Allen, like Maury Wills, has had his Hall of Fame case debated endlessly. Allen was an extraordinary hitter and a controversial figure. We don’t need to go into all that now, but suffice it to say that Allen put up great numbers and won an MVP award… and yet he never got even 20 percent of the Hall of Fame vote.

That’s the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Game concerns itself with how someone played the game. Allen’s hitting power — and the legendary stories told about some of his home runs — reminds of those remarkable Negro Leagues hitters like Mule Suttles or Josh Gibson. And if Allen wasn’t always an easy guy to get along with, well, the Negro Leagues are filled

with stories of legends who would sooner fight you than shake your hand.

In other words, the Hall of Game lets us remember and celebrate Allen in all his splendor and storminess even if (so far) he has fallen short of the Cooperstown.

Lofton was never really a candidate for Cooperstown. He fell off the Hall of Fame ballot after one year when he got just 18 votes. He was, in many ways, a victim of circumstance; he was on an impossibly loaded ballot that had as many as a dozen future Hall of Famers on it, depending on how the whole PED thing plays out.

Lofton has a persuasive Hall of Fame case because he did so many things well on a field. He was an elite defender, a great base stealer, a .300 hitter (well, he fell four hits shy of .300 over his career) and so on. Then, there’s a persuasive case that Lofton was not quite a Hall of Fame. You could argue either way and have strong points.

But the Hall of Game doesn’t walk that well-worn path. Was Lofton an electrifying player? Absolutely. He specifically reminded Buck O’Neil of Negro Leagues icon Cool Papa Bell. He played baseball aggressively, joyfully, he’s the last American Leaguer to steal 75 bases in a season, he made the game jump and move. He’s a Hall of Gamer.

The exciting thing about the Hall of Game, to me, is where it goes from here. I keep throwing names at Bob. Dwight Gooden should be in. Eric Davis should be in. Fred McGriff should be in.

Vince Coleman … Bobby Bonds … Bo Jackson … Kirk Gibson … Dusty Baker … Jimmy Wynn … Darryl Strawberry … Fernando Valenzuela … Lonnie Smith … Hideo Nomo … What about Pete Rose?

The possibilities are not endless but they are wonderful. Think of those players who are your favorites and your kids’ favorites. Think of Chicago’s Javy Báez, for instance, perhaps the most fun player in baseball. I don’t know if Javy Báez will end up in the Hall of Fame. But I can tell you right now that he belongs in the Hall of Game.

Pujols adds 3,000-hit club to historic resumeAngels slugger also gets No. 3,001 to pass Clemente for 31st all-timeMay 4, 2018 By Maria Guardado/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/angels/news/albert-pujols-gets-his-3000th-hit/c-275253320

Albert Pujols has moved into increasingly rarefied territory over his decorated 18-year career in the Majors. On Friday night, he reached another prestigious summit, lining a single to right field in the fifth inning against Mariners right-hander Mike Leake for his 3,000th hit. The Angels slugger added a two-run single in the ninth for No. 3,001, driving in two runs to help the Halos to a 5-0 win.

"It was going to happen, it was just a matter of when," Pujols said. "I just thank the Lord that it happened tonight in front of my family, my friends. Now we just stay focused on the things that I want to do, which is help this ballclub to win. We don't have to talk too much about 3,000 now."

Pujols, 38, became the 32nd player to reach 3,000 and the second from the Dominican Republic, after Adrian Beltre. With 620 homers, he is only the fourth player to collect 3,000 hits and 600 home runs, joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez.

"His nickname 'The Machine' was not just for his hitting proficiency," manager Mike Scioscia said. "It's like his will to play. He comes out here every day, wants to help the team win a game. You have to have an incredible makeup to be that good for that long. He's obviously an exceptional talent. Combined with all the intangibles, you see why he's in rarefied air. Four guys, in all the careers in baseball of great, great players. To do what he's doing, I think it says it all."

Pujols doubled off Orioles right-hander Miguel Castro for his 2,999th hit on Thursday, but he went hitless in his next three plate appearances, shifting his march to 3,000 to Safeco Field.

Pujols lined out to shortstop Jean Segura in shallow left field his first at-bat against Leake and then worked a 10-pitch walk to lead off the fourth. The anticipation finally came to an end in the following inning, when he lined a 1-0 sinker into right field for the milestone hit.

"It was fun that it turned into a little bit of a battle before he got a hit," Leake said. "But congratulations to him. He's a competitor every second that he's on the field. He's been a joy to watch and a joy to compete against, for sure."

After rounding first, Pujols looked toward the sky, hugged first-base coach Alfredo Griffin and clapped his hands. His Angels teammates -- led by Mike Trout -- soon streamed out of the dugout to congratulate him at first base, engulfing him in a collective embrace.

"It was hard to hug everybody, so I told them, 'Let's do a group hug,'" Pujols said.

he celebration continued after the game in the clubhouse, with the Angels holding a champagne toast in Pujols' honor. When he sat down at the dais for his postgame press conference, he sported a gray T-shirt that read "Pujols 3K."

"I was really happy to see a moment like this," said Shohei Ohtani, who witnessed the historic moment from the on-deck circle. "It's something I can brag about for the rest of my life."

With his 3,000th hit, Pujols moved into a tie with Roberto Clemente, and his 3,001st gave him sole possession of 31st on the all-time list. His 620 home runs rank seventh.

"There are so many people -- if I start thanking them all we might be here to till 2 in the morning," Pujols said. "In the Dominican Republic, there were 10 million-plus people staying up and missing sleep over the last couple days waiting for this moment. This is a moment that I share with my friend Adrian Beltre, who accomplished that last year. To be able to come to the United States and be the second Dominican-born player to accomplish that is pretty special."

Prior to the game, Pujols spent some time chatting on the field with Mariners icon Ichiro Suzuki, another member of the 3,000-hit club, who said he could relate to the anxiety that tends to build when a player is on the cusp of such a major accomplishment. Ichiro's 3,000th hit was a triple for the Marlins on Aug. 7, 2016.

"I'd have been so stressed out I'd probably have had to go to the hospital," said Ichiro, who began his new front-office role with the Mariners on Friday.

A 13th-round Draft pick of the Cardinals in 1999, Pujols made an improbable rise from obscurity to become one of the most feared right-handed sluggers of his generation. Over his 11 seasons in St. Louis, Pujols produced his first 2,073 hits, captured three National League MVP Awards and helped lead the Cardinals to two World Series titles. Nine hundred and twenty-eight of his hits have come with the Angels, who signed him to a 10-year, $240 million contract in December 2011.

"My goal was to try to get an opportunity to become a professional athlete," Pujols said. "I thank God for giving me the ability and the talent to do that. I never thought that my career would end up like this. If I would have had 1,000 pages blank and the Lord would have said just write what you think is going to happen in 38 years, I wouldn't have even come close to the history and the things that I've done in this game."

Pujols and Rod Carew are the only players to log their 3,000th hit in an Angels uniform. Pujols will receive a $3 million bonus from the Angels for reaching the milestone.

"I think the guys know the living history that we're seeing every day with Albert," Scioscia said. "These aren't things that you're going to say 15 years down the road, 'Hey, that was really impressive.' These are things that 15 seconds later you're going, 'Man, this is really special.' It's fun to watch it."

Tigers place Miggy on DL with hamstring strainMay 4, 2018 By Jason Beck/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/tigers/news/miguel-cabrera-injured-placed-on-disabled-list/c-275241532

Miguel Cabrera spent last offseason trying to work his body into shape to avoid the disabled list this season. A right hamstring strain sustained while running out an infield single on Thursday ended that hope.

On Friday, the Tigers placed their slugger and former Triple Crown winner on the 10-day disabled list. They're hoping that's all the time they need to get him back, but no timetable is set for his return.

"They're calling this one more of a strain," manager Ron Gardenhire said, "but it's still a hamstring problem. We'll just have to see how it goes. I can't tell you if 10 days is enough. Only he will be able to do that as we go along."

It was a frustrating development for Cabrera, who missed three games earlier this week following a left biceps spasm. He returned to the lineup on Thursday, only to sustain a different injury when he accelerated to first base.

Cabrera was in good spirits before Friday's game against the Royals, certainly better than the frustration that set in Thursday following the injury. He had no update on the timetable.

"He knew that he got it," Gardenhire said. "He said he [felt] it at first base a little bit, and then when he went running to second base, he knew for a fact that he had a hamstring problem, so he just walked off the field before I got out there. He knew, and we'll just let him get well."

Cabrera also missed a game with a left hip flexor strain last month after taking a fall rounding first base.

Despite the injuries, Cabrera has had a resurgent season at the plate, which makes his absence a tough one for the Tigers. Cabrera is batting .323 (30-for-93) with nine doubles, three home runs, 21 RBIs and a .924 OPS. His average exit velocity of 95.3 mph was tied for fourth among Major League hitters with at least 50 batted balls entering play on Friday.

John Hicks has been filling in at first base for Cabrera the last few days and will continue in that role, evidenced by the Tigers' callup of a catcher -- Grayson Greiner joins the team from Triple-A Toledo for his first Major League stint -- to fill Cabrera's roster spot and back up starter James McCann.

"He's a strong young man and he can drive a baseball," Gardenhire said. "He'll definitely get at-bats. He's played pretty good over at first base. He moves around OK, and he handles himself well. It benefits him because now he's going to get an opportunity to play more and get more swings.

"We just have to fill a hole here. It's a big hole when you're filling a hole for Cabrera. I don't ask him to try to do anything like that. I just want him to go out and be himself and play. That's what he's been doing so far."

A third-round pick in the 2014 MLB Draft, Greiner hit .259 (15-for-58) with four doubles, a home run and seven RBIs with the Mud Hens before being scratched from their lineup on Thursday night to make the trip from Durham, N.C.

"My wife, son and dad were in attendance in Durham, so I got to share it with them face-to-face, which was awesome," Greiner said. "They made the flight up here, so they're here soaking it all in."

Joining Greiner on the trip to Kansas City is left-hander Blaine Hardy, whose contract was purchased from the Hens to fill the bullpen spot opened when Chad Bell was optioned to Toledo after Thursday's loss. The Tigers designated Hardy for assignment in Spring Training, but he has been stellar in a swing role for the Mud Hens, having allowed just two runs on 11 hits over 24 1/3 innings with 30 strikeouts in four starts and three relief appearances.

Buehler leads LA's combined no-no in MexicoFeat is 12th combined no-hitter in Major League history, first by DodgersMay 4, 2018 By Ken Gurnick/MLB.comhttps://www.mlb.com/dodgers/news/four-dodgers-combine-for-no-hitter-vs-padres/c-275327552

The pitching legacy of the Dodgers stretches for the better part of a century, and Walker Buehler took his rightful place in it on Friday night after just his third Major League start.

The rookie did the heavy lifting in the first combined no-hitter in Dodgers history. His six electric innings in the rain were followed by one each from Tony Cingrani, Yimi Garcia and Adam Liberatore in a 4-0 win over the Padres in the opener of the Mexico Series.

It was the 23rd no-hitter in Dodgers history, but the first combined. The last Dodgers no-no was thrown by Clayton Kershaw on June 18, 2014, against Colorado.

Dodgers no-hit SD in Monterrey• Dodgers spin MLB's 12th combined no-no• Going to 'pen a no-brainer for Roberts• Valenzuela's 1st pitch opens amazing night• Facts and figures from no-hitter• All-time no-hitters in MLB history

Fittingly, it was the greatest Mexican Dodger ever, Fernando Valenzuela, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Valenzuela threw his no-hitter for the Dodgers in 1990 against the Cardinals.

Valenzuela made 119 pitches that night. Buehler, the Dodgers' top prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was removed because he threw 93 pitches with three innings to go, the count run up by three walks and eight strikeouts.

That left Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who knows the terrain, to call it "pretty much a no-brainer" for the removal with three innings left of a pitcher who needed Tommy John surgery when he was drafted and has been handled delicately ever since.

"I just let him know, understanding how much of the game was left, he was totally complicit with where I was coming from and how important he is for the organization this year," Roberts said. "He completely understood." Well, maybe not completely.

"It's one of those where you're pretty angry to come out, but the bullpen guys we have, I trust it in their hands, and it worked out," Buehler told SportsNet LA coming off the field. "I get it 100 times. I understand what they're doing, but that's about as tough as it's ever been for me to be OK to come out of a game."

The Padres now see what all the fuss is about.

"Two different breaking balls he was throwing for strikes on both sides of the plate. He was throwing 98-99 mph," first baseman Eric Hosmer said. "It's tough to give credit to the pitcher sometimes, but he threw a good game and he had all of his pitches working to both sides of the plate. Sometimes you've got to tip your cap to their guy."

Buehler is now the third pitcher Roberts has removed from a masterpiece, having yanked Ross Stripling from a no-hitter in San Francisco and Rich Hill from a perfect game. Buehler said his only other no-hitter was in high school, but he gave up two runs in the first inning "so that doesn't count."

Cingrani issued back-to-back one-out walks in the seventh, but he struck out Matt Szczur and got a fielder's-choice grounder from Freddy Galvis. Garcia, just recalled after recovering from Tommy John surgery, struck out two in a perfect eighth inning, and in the ninth, Liberatore struck out a pair, getting Franchy Cordero to end it with a swing and a miss.

"It was amazing," said Liberatore, also a recent callup. "I knew the position I was in going into that last inning. Just wanted to give it my best effort and throw as hard as I could and just get three outs without blowing it."

"For the bullpen, it was a continued momentum booster for those guys," said Roberts, whose bullpen wobbled throughout April but is showing signs of stability in May.

Offensively, Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez slugged back-to-back home runs in the second inning after the Padres gave the Dodgers a gift first-inning run, so Buehler had an early lead to work with.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDPadres second baseman Pirela appeared to lose Matt Kemp's popup in the cloudy sky at dusk for a first-inning gift single, allowing Taylor to score the first run for the Dodgers. It was the only run of the inning, in which the Dodgers had five batters reach base safely, three on walks and two on singles.

SOUND SMARTAccording to Baseball-Reference, Buehler is the youngest Dodgers pitcher to pitch at least six no-hit innings since Rex Barney in 1948.

HE SAID IT"To fly here and to fly outside of our country, where the atmosphere is different, to perform the way we did, it's almost humbling in a way, because you're able to put it together and it makes it a little bit sweeter, probably." -- Buehler, on the achievement

UP NEXTKenta Maeda will make the Saturday 4:10 p.m. PT start against Bryan Mitchell and the Padres. Against the right-handed Mitchell, expect the return to the lineup of Bellinger, Joc Pederson and Utley.

MLB TRANSACTIONSMay 5, 2018 •.CBSSports.comhttp://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions

TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION

ARI

Taijuan Walker

Transferred to 60-Day DL (Right elbow surgery - out for season)

CHWJace Fry Called Up from Minors

ARI

Silvino Bracho Sent to Minors

ARI

Clay Buchholz

Signed to a Minor League Contract

TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION

OAK

Simon Castro Released

ARIKris Medlen Purchased From Minors

STLLuke Voit Sent to Minors

MILJorge Lopez Called Up from Minors

SDJavy Guerra Called Up from Minors

(added as 26th roster player)

CLEJeff Beliveau Designated for Assignment

ATL

Jose Bautista Purchased From Minors

TOR

Smith, Dwight Sent to Minors

TOR

Carlos Ramirez Sent to Minors

TB

Nathan Eovaldi

Sent to Minors For Rehabilitation

TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION

LAAJC Ramirez

Transferred to 60-Day DL (Right elbow surgery - out for season)

DET

Blaine Hardy Purchased From Minors

STL

Ryan Sherriff

Removed From 10-Day DL (Right great toe fracture)

STL

Ryan Sherriff

Recalled From Minors Rehab Assignment

LAD

Walker Buehler Called Up from Minors

KCScott Barlow Sent to Minors

CLE

Alexi Ogando Purchased From Minors

TORLuis Santos Sent to Minors

TOR

Richard Urena Called Up from Minors

BOS

Bobby Poyner Called Up from Minors

TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION

BAL

Jonathan Schoop

Sent to Minors For Rehabilitation

DET

Miguel Cabrera

Placed on 10-Day DL (Right hamstring strain)

DET

Grayson Greiner Called Up from Minors

LAD

Breyvic Valera

Called Up from Minors (recalled as 26th roster player)

CLEGio Urshela Designated for Assignment

CLEGio Urshela Removed From 10-Day DL

(Strained right hamstring)

LAD

Edward Paredes Sent to Minors

LAA

Martin Maldonado

Placed on Bereavement/Family Medical Emergency List

STL

Sam Tuivailala

Removed From 10-Day DL (Left knee strain)

STL

Sam Tuivailala

Recalled From Minors Rehab Assignment

TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION

LAA

Juan Graterol Purchased From Minors

ATL

Dansby Swanson

Placed on 10-Day DL (Left wrist inflammation)

CLEGio Urshela Recalled From Minors Rehab

Assignment

KC

Adam, Jason Purchased From Minors

ATL

Preston Tucker Called Up from Minors

CHW

Juan Minaya Sent to Minors

CLE

Ryan Merritt

Sent to Minors For Rehabilitation

TOR

Jake Petricka Purchased From Minors

CIN

Tanner Rainey Called Up from Minors

TOR

Dalton Pompey Called Up from Minors

TEAM PLAYER TRANSACTION

COLChris Rusin Removed From 10-Day DL

(Right intercostal strain)