MLB Notes

Jason Heyward #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals is shown in this file photo.
Jason Heyward #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals is shown in this file photo.

CARDINALS

Heyward out of lineup

photo

AP

New York Mets manager Terry Collins during the first inning of an interleague baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, in St. Petersburg, Fla.

ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals outfielder Jason Heyward is out of the starting lineup a day after being taken out of the game with left hamstring tightness, an injury Manager Mike Matheny believes may have been cramping.

Rookie Tommy Pham started in center against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.

Matheny is hopeful Heyward will be available soon for a team already missing three outfielders. Randal Grichuk, Matt Holliday and Jon Jay are all out with injuries.

Heyward is batting .287 with 11 home runs and 43 RBI.

Matheny said Pham earned the nod over veteran Peter Bourjos because he had been playing so well at Class AAA Memphis before being recalled when Grichuk went on the 15-day disabled list Monday with an elbow strain.

RED SOX

Dombrowski hired

BOSTON — The last-place Boston Red Sox shook up their front office Tuesday night, hiring Dave Dombrowski as the new president of baseball operations and saying goodbye to general manager Ben Cherington.

Dombrowski joins the Red Sox — his fifth major league club — immediately. The team said in a news release during its game against the Cleveland Indians that Cherington “declined the opportunity to continue as general manager, but has agreed to assist Mr. Dombrowski during the transition.”

Dombrowski built a World Series champion with the Florida Marlins and took Detroit to the Series twice, winning four consecutive AL Central titles in 14 years in the Tigers’ front office. But with Detroit playing below .500, he was let go two weeks ago — shortly after the Red Sox announced that president and CEO Larry Lucchino would step away from the club at the end of the season.

Red Sox COO Sam Kennedy is slated to take over the business of the ballclub, with Dombrowski running the baseball side.

The shakeup comes as the Red Sox stumble toward their third last-place finish in four seasons. In 2013, they won the World Series — their third in a decade but their first under Cherington.

METS

Conservation plan

BALTIMORE -- The New York Mets are crafting a plan to skip at least one Matt Harvey and one Noah Syndergaard start before the end of the season to save their innings for late September and a possible postseason.

Manager Terry Collins answered "there's a chance we're going to have to do that" when asked Tuesday if the Mets were going to skip Harvey, who has thrown 154 innings in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.

"There's a good chance it's going to be some other guys," Collins said.

The only other starter who is subject to an innings limit is Syndergaard, the rookie who has thrown 135 1/3 innings in the minors and majors going into tonight's outing against the Orioles at Camden Yards.

Jacob deGrom, who the Mets have said is not subject to a strict innings limit, isn't believed to be part of the plan.

The Mets are trying to keep Harvey and Syndergaard from exhausting their innings before either the end of September or the playoffs.

Although this is a different regime, Mets fans remember 2007, when the team shut down Pedro Martinez to give him extra rest and started less-heralded pitchers Brian Lawrence and Philip Humber. Their poor performances helped the Mets lose a seven-game lead over the last 17 games and miss the playoffs.

This year, the Mets are planning to use left-hander Steven Matz and Logan Verrett to fill in for their top pitchers. Matz is rehabbing a lat injury in Port St. Lucie. Verrett was called up Tuesday from Class AAA Las Vegas to help out the bullpen.

This will be Verrett's third stint with the Mets this season. He's allowed 1 run over 12 1/3 innings in 6 games. Verrett started the season with Texas before being designated for assignment April 24.

RHP Parnell on DL

BALTIMORE -- The Mets have placed right-hander Bobby Parnell on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis.

Parnell is 1-3 with a 5.59 ERA and 1 save in 23 games. He last pitched against Pittsburgh on Sunday, allowing 4 runs, 2 hits and 2 walks in two-thirds of an inning. He missed most of the 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery to repair a partially torn right elbow ligament.

PHILLIES

Franco fractures wrist

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Phillies have placed rookie third baseman Maikel Franco on the 15-day disabled list because of a fractured wrist.

Franco was hit by a pitch on his left wrist last Tuesday at Arizona. He missed the next four games.

Outfielder Aaron Altherr was called up from Class AAA Lehigh Valley to take Franco's roster spot. Altherr hit .293 with 14 home runs and 67 RBI in the minors this season.

Franco is batting .277 with 13 home runs, 48 RBI and 22 doubles.

YANKEES

Mitchell on 7-day DL

The New York Yankees placed pitcher Bryan Mitchell on the seven-day concussion disabled list, the team announced Tuesday afternoon.

The rookie was hit in the head by Eduardo Nunez's line drive Monday night. He was led from the field with a bloody towel pressed against his face. Mitchell, 24, a right-hander, was evaluated and released from New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Monday night. He suffered a "small nasal fracture."

Veteran left-hander Chris Capuano and right-hander were called up from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Right-hander Caleb Cotham was optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Sports on 08/19/2015

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