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LEADING OFF: Trout sidelined, Kluber faces Rangers

A look at what’s happening around the majors on Wednesday:

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TROUT TROUBLE

Angels star Mike Trout could be out past the All-Star break after straining his right calf on the bases.

Trout is expected to miss six to eight weeks. The three-time AL MVP made an early exit Monday night in a 7-4 win over Cleveland. He came up limping when he ran toward third on a popup that ended the first inning.

“I felt a pop,” Trout said. “I knew it was bad when it happened. I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

Trout leads the majors with a 1.090 OPS. The outfielder is hitting .333 with eight home runs and 18 RBIs.

BEEN HERE BEFORE

Corey Kluber takes the mound at the Texas Rangers’ retractable roof stadium for the second time, this time starting against them for the New York Yankees.

The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner threw just one inning in his only season with the Rangers, tearing a muscle in his shoulder during a start last July in the third game played in the $1.2 billion stadium. The injury didn’t require surgery, but ended his season.

That scoreless inning cost the Rangers $18.5 million — his $17.5 million salary after they got him in a December 2019 trade from Cleveland, and the $1 million buyout of an $18.5 million club option for this season. Kluber then signed an $11 million free-agent deal with the Yankees, and is 3-2 with a 3.48 ERA in eight starts.

PRIZE WINNERS

With four Cy Young Awards between them, Max Scherzer (3-2, 2.10 ERA) starts for the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field against Jake Arrieta (4-3, 4.10) and the Chicago Cubs. First baseman Anthony Rizzo exited Tuesday night’s game for the Cubs because of tightness in his lower back.

MVP RETURNS

Christian Yelich is back with the Milwaukee Brewers after the star outfielder was activated from the injured list Tuesday and played just his second major league game in five weeks. The 2018 NL MVP was the designated hitter when Milwaukee opened a two-game interleague series in Kansas City.

Yelich played nine games to start the season before leaving with stiffness in his lower back on April 11 in St. Louis. He tried to return May 3 in Philadelphia but played just one game before returning to the injured list.

“I’m just excited to be back in there and contribute at some level,” Yelich said.

QUIET GIANTS

Kevin Gausman (3-0, 1.84 ERA) pitches for the NL West-leading Giants in Cincinnati against left-hander Wade Miley (4-3, 3.69), who threw a no-hitter on May 7 but lasted only three innings in his most recent start Friday. San Francisco has won the first two of the four-game set.

ON HIS WAY BACK

Gleyber Torres could be back in the New York Yankees’ lineup against Texas, a week after the fully vaccinated shortstop tested positive for COVID-19.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday that Torres had been cleared by Major League Baseball’s joint committee and was already en route to Texas to rejoin the team. He could potentially be activated Wednesday.

Asymptomatic vaccinated people can be cleared to return if they test negative twice.

Torres was the only player among nine total positives within the Yankees traveling party since last week, which included three coaches and five staffers. Boone said Torres is the only one in that group cleared to return.

New York second baseman Rougned Odor was activated from the injured list Tuesday and started against the Rangers, his former team. Odor missed 12 games with a left knee sprain.

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Cuba baseball squad without visas as Olympic qualifier nears

HAVANA (AP) — Just over a week before the start of the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament in Florida, the Cuban team does not have visas to travel to the United States, athletes and officials said Tuesday.

Managers and players expressed their concern about the lack of authorizations to attend the event even though they have sought to obtain them in more than three countries. Sanctions imposed by Washington on the island make it impossible to apply in Havana.

“We do not have the pre-Olympic visas at the moment. Huge efforts have been made, ” Luis Daniel Del Risco, treasurer of the Cuban Baseball Federation, told The Associated Press. “We tried in Mexico, we tried in Panama, we tried to do it in Guyana.”

Finally last week the athletes and their managers presented the documentation to the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, which has had its consular area closed since 2017 by order of then President Donald Trump. They have yet to receive a response.

In response to an AP request to the State Department on Tuesday, U.S. officials declined to provide information about the baseball players, saying that “visa records are confidential.”

The Cuban team has spent months training for the qualifying tournament in the hopes of representing their country in this year’s Tokyo Olympics, team captain Frederich Cepeda said.

“It is very sad what is happening, we have been training for a long time,” the outfielder said during a break in training. “It is a dream for us and for the people of Cuba to achieve the Olympic qualification … What we want is our right to play.”

The qualifying tournament will be held from May 31 to June 5 and Cuba would be in Group B, where it would face baseball powers such as Colombia and Venezuela as well as Canada.

If the Cubans cannot make the games in Florida, they can try to qualify of the Olympics in Taipei in June.

Cuban baseball executives say all the athletes have been vaccinated against the coronavirus with two doses of Cuba’s own Soberana 02 vaccine and a booster dose of Soberana Plus.

Baseball returns to the Olympics this summer after a 13-year absence.

Voters back bid to ban race discrimination in constitution

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania voters are backing a proposal to amend the state constitution to outlaw discrimination based on race and ethnicity, a question added to Tuesday’s primary ballot amid worries over whether federal judges appointed by former President Donald Trump will roll back civil rights protections.

The proposal had about 70% of the vote in support of it, with about 45% of precincts reporting.

The question is believed to be the first time since last summer’s protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis that voters in any state have decided a racial equity issue on a statewide ballot.

Constitutional law professors say it will have little practical effect because courts already consider such discrimination to violate both the state and federal constitutions.

But state Sen. Vince Hughes, a Democrat in Philadelphia, said he sponsored the measure in case federal anti-discrimination case law is undercut by the Republican-majority U.S. Supreme Court or federal judges appointed by Trump.

It will become the state constitution’s fourth equality provision, added to “all men are born equally free and independent,” a protection from discrimination in exercising civil rights, and a 1971 amendment that ensures gender equality.

Meanwhile, two separate questions seek to limit a governor’s emergency disaster declarations and put more power in the hands of lawmakers.

Republican lawmakers across the country are reeling in emergency powers that governors wielded during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Pennsylvania is in the unique position of being the first to take the question to voters.

Pennsylvania’s questions, penned by Republican lawmakers, ask voters to end a declaration after 21 days and to give lawmakers the sole authority to extend it or end it at any time with a simple majority vote.

Current law allows a governor to issue an emergency declaration for up to 90 days and extend it without limit. The constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote by lawmakers to end the declaration.

Wolf, a Democrat, and his emergency disaster director have called the proposals reckless, political and a threat to a functioning society if it prevents a fast and wide-ranging response to increasingly complicated disasters.

Republicans have accused Wolf of fear-mongering and said that the framers of the constitution never intended for a governor to hold so much power to suspend regulations, order mask-wearing and businesses and schools shut down.

The Legislature did not hold hearings on the measures, and they may end up in court if voters approve them because their effect is in dispute.

Republicans claim the governor cannot order shutdowns without a disaster emergency in effect. Wolf disagrees, saying a governor’s authority during a public health emergency rests on separate public health law and is unaffected by the ballot questions.

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Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/timelywriter

Ryu pitches 7 masterful innings, Blue Jays beat Red Sox 8-0

DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — Hyun Jin Ryu pitched seven masterful innings, light-hitting Danny Jansen played a key offensive role and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 8-0 on Tuesday night.

Ryu (4-2) scattered four hits and struck out seven. Travis Bergen, Tyler Chatwood and Rafael Dolis completed the five-hitter.

“It was vintage Ryu,” Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo said. “For him to go seven innings against that lineup, that’s a pretty good lineup.”

Ryu was coming off a win in Atlanta last Wednesday when the lefty gave up one run over seven innings,

“I feel really good right now, physically,” Ryu said through a translator.

Jansen had a second-inning RBI single and drew a pivotal walk during a three-run fourth as Toronto won for the ninth time in 12 games and improved to a season-high six games over .500. Jansen had two hits in three at-bats and raised his batting average to .143.

Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez (5-2) gave up five runs and 11 hits in five innings. The lefty has gone five or more innings in 36 consecutive starts dating to May 4, 2019, the longest active streak in the majors.

“Command is not where he usually is and that’s something he needs, regardless of his stuff,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I think the cutter actually is bigger than usual. We’ll try to find out why. There’s been a lot of contact. Teams are doing a good job of staying with him and going the other way. We’ll go back to the drawing board and see what we can do.”

The Blue Jays are 10-5 this season at TD Ballpark, their spring training facility. Toronto entered averaging an AL-best 6.14 runs in home games.

Toronto is playing its third and final homestand in Dunedin before relocating to Buffalo, New York, next month. COVID-19 restrictions are keeping the Blue Jays from playing in Canada.

Jansen put the Blue Jays ahead 1-0 on an RBI single in the second off Rodriguez. It was just his second hit in 26 at-bats against left-handed pitchers this season.

Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette had run-scoring hits in a three-run fourth that made it 4-0.

After Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a leadoff double, Jansen drew a two-out walk. Semien drove in Gurriel with a single and Jansen scored on right fielder Hunter Renfroe’s errant throw to third. Bichette added an RBI double.

“You go to that walk,” Cora said. “Then after that Semien gets that bloop single, we make the error, they score two. Everything with two outs. We weren’t able to stop the bleeding.”

Gurriel also contributed an RBI single in the fifth.

Teoscar Hernández had three hits, including an RBI single in the sixth, for the Blue Jays. Hernández has driven in 17 runs in 17 games since returning from the COVID-19 injured list.

Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer to right field in the eighth.

DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT

Cora had high praise for renovations at TD Ballpark.

“They did an amazing job with the clubhouse and the facility to accommodate the visiting team,” he said. “It is different, we know that. The ball flies here and the ball shoots to right field compared to the other places we have played.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: OF Kiké Hernandez (right hamstring strain) returned from the 10-day injured list. … Cora said LHP Chris Sale (Tommy John surgery) is really excited about how he is bouncing back after workouts. Sale is throwing off a bullpen mound.

Blue Jays: CF George Springer (right quadriceps strain) is taking batting practice and jogging but has not started running sprints. … 1B Rowdy Tellez, who hurt his hamstring Sunday, was available off the bench. … Dolis (right calf strain) was reinstated from the 10-day IL.

UP NEXT

Red Sox RHP Garrett Richards (3-2) and Toronto RHP Ross Stripling (0-2) are Wednesday night’s scheduled starting pitchers.

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LeMahieu season-high 3 RBIs for Yankees in 7-4 win at Texas

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — DJ LeMahieu had a season-high three RBIs, including the tiebreaking, two-run double in New York’s big inning, and the Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 7-4 on Tuesday night.

LeMahieu went the opposite way for his double down the right-field line to cap a five-run fourth that put the Yankees up 5-3. That was the first multi-RBI hit this season for LeMahieu, who added a sacrifice fly to deep center in the sixth.

Rougned Odor went 2 for 5 with two strikeouts against his former team in his return to the Yankees lineup after missing 12 games because of a sprained left knee. Odor, who played his first seven big league seasons for the Rangers, was designated for assignment at the end of spring training and then traded to New York. Texas is paying the bulk of the $27 million left on the second baseman’s six-year contract that goes through next season.

Nick Solak, now the Rangers second baseman, had a solo homer after an earlier RBI single for the first Texas run.

Wandy Peralta (3-1) worked a scoreless inning. He took over for Yankees starter Jameson Taillon after Solak’s eighth homer of the season with two outs in the fifth got Texas within 5-4.

Aroldis Chapman worked the ninth for his 10th save in as many chances, the best season-opening stretch in the big left-hander’s 12 big league season. He struck out the side and has 34 strikeouts while allowing only one unearned run in his 16 appearances.

Rangers starter Mike Foltynewicz (1-4) allowed five hits and a walk in a seven-batter stretch in the fourth, and the bases were loaded when LeMahieu greeted reliever Kolby Allard with the two-run double. Gio Urshela and Gary Sánchez both had RBI doubles in the frame before Miguel Andújar’s run-scoring single tied the game 3-3.

Adolis García had a two-run single that put Texas up 3-0 in the third. The rookie center fielder has 30 RBIs in his 34 games.

Odor had a single in his first at-bat in the second, then in the bottom of that frame had a nifty stop up the middle and a toss to shortstop Urshela to ignite an inning-ending double play. Odor doubled in the fifth, then in the eighth was stationed in shallow right field when he snapped former teammate Joey Gallo’s hard liner for an out.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: Gary Sánchez, who was catching after being the DH in the series opener, left the game in the sixth inning because of cramping in his left hamstring. … SS Gleyber Torres could be back in the lineup as early as Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. The fully vaccinated shortstop was cleared by MLB’s joint committee to return. Asymptomatic vaccinated people can be cleared to return if they test negative twice. … Manager Aaron Boone said LHP Zach Britton’s left elbow “checked out well” and was structurally sound when he saw a doctor. Britton felt soreness after throwing Saturday. Boone said he could start playing catch again Wednesday or Thursday.

UP NEXT

Corey Kluber takes the mound at the Rangers’ new retractable roof stadium for the second time, this time starting for the Yankees against Texas. Kluber (3-2, 3.48 ERA) threw only one inning in his only season with the Rangers, tearing a muscle in his shoulder in his only start last July in the third game played in the $1.2 billion stadium. That scoreless inning cost the Rangers $18.5 million. Texas will likely use an opener before South Korean lefty Hyeon-Jong Yang makes his fifth MLB appearance.

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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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