No issue for skipper
Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington says he’s put behind him Roy Oswalt’s decision not to pitch a third inning of relief and sees no need to discuss it with the former starter.
Oswalt told Washington after throwing 30 pitches in the seventh and eighth innings on Sunday that he couldn’t continue. The Rangers lost 7-6 in 10 innings at Kansas City.
“Since I’ve been here (if) a player tells me he can’t go, that’s it,” Washington said before Monday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox. “It ends right there and, for me, it ended right there.”
Longoria returning
Three-time All Star Evan Longoria is set to return to Tampa Bay’s lineup after being sidelined more three months with a partially torn left hamstring.
The Rays said the third baseman will be activated from the disabled list before today’s game against Toronto. He was batting .329 with four homers and 19 RBIs in 23 games before being injured running the bases against Seattle on April 30.
The Rays went 15-8 before the injury, and are 41-44 since.
Helton out
Todd Helton’s worst season of his career is over. The Colorado Rockies say their first baseman and clubhouse leader will undergo arthroscopic surgery Friday to repair a torn labrum in his right hip.
A career .320 hitter, Helton batted just .238 this season, by far the lowest average of his 15-year career in the majors. He had seven homers and 37 RBIs.
Helton has been bothered by a sore hip since early June. He struggled moving to his right on ground balls and lifting his right leg at the plate.
Clearing the bases
White Sox pitcher John Danks has had left shoulder surgery, and Chicago says he should be ready for the start of spring training. Danks, a left-hander, was 3-4 with a 5.70 ERA in nine starts and hasn’t pitched in the majors since May 19. … Jim Thome will be unavailable to the Orioles at least into September because of a herniated disk. The 41-year-old Thome has been on the disabled list since Tuesday. He received an epidural Thursday and was told at that time to rest for 30 days.