HOUSTON — The Boston Red Sox put major league batting leader Mookie Betts on the 10-day disabled list because of a left abdominal strain.

The Red Sox made the move retroactive to Tuesday. The AL East leaders will make a corresponding roster move before Saturday’s game at Houston.

The 25-year-old right fielder is hitting .359 and also has scored a major league-high 52 runs. He ranks among the leaders with 17 home runs, 37 RBI and 13 steals.

Betts didn’t play Thursday night in the series opener against the Astros, the fifth straight game he’d missed because of soreness on his left side.

Manager Alex Cora had said he didn’t think Betts would need to go on the DL, and had hoped to have him in the lineup before the series ends Sunday.

• Boston released Hanley Ramirez on Friday, a week after designating him for assignment.

The Red Sox are responsible for the $14.4 million remaining on his contract, but the move avoids Ramirez triggering a $22 million salary for 2019.

DODGERS: Ace left-hander Clayton Kershaw has returned to the disabled list, this time with a strained lower back.

The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner experienced tightness during his five-inning outing against Philadelphia on Thursday. The Dodgers made the move Friday before their game at Colorado.

The 30-year-old has spent time on the DL in each of the past two seasons with a back injury.

Kershaw’s start this week was his first after nearly a month on the disabled list with left biceps tendinitis. He said Thursday that he’s “frustrated, disappointed I can’t contribute to the team. Being on the DL’s no fun.”

Kershaw is 1-4 this season with a 2.76 ERA spanning eight starts.

BREWERS: Milwaukee placed starting pitcher Zach Davies on the 10-day disabled list with right rotator cuff inflammation and recalled first baseman-outfielder Ji-Man Choi from Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Davies was placed on the DL retroactive to May 30, when the right-hander allowed five runs and eight hits over five innings in a 6-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

ROCKIES: Colorado placed outfielder David Dahl on the 10-day disabled list with a broken right foot and reinstated second baseman DJ LeMahieu.

HITS EXCEEDED strikeouts across Major League Baseball in May after a historic number of whiffs in April.

This marked a return to form. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there were 7,033 hits and 6,971 strikeouts in May.

Strikeouts had topped hits in a full month for the first time in April, when then there were 6,656 strikeouts and 6,360 hits. The previous low differential was in April 2017, when there were 138 more hits than strikeouts.

Strikeouts per game dropped to 16.75 in May from 17.5 in April, a record for a full calendar month. Strikeouts have set a record for 10 consecutive seasons, and this year’s rate projects to 41,633. That would shatter last year’s mark of 40,104; the total was 32,884 in 2008.

Arizona batters have 131 more strikeouts than hits this season while Texas is at 119 and San Diego at 117.

Boston has the best differential, with 97 more hits than strikeouts, followed by Atlanta (81) and Detroit (78).

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife, the singer Ciara, have joined the effort to bring Major League Baseball to Portland.

Portland Diamond Project, the company leading the push, announced Friday that the husband-and-wife celebrities have each invested individually as “owner/investors” in the project.

The Diamond Project’s leadership has stressed that its effort will take time, estimating an opening day in Portland would come in 2022 at the earliest.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has called Portland a candidate to acquire a franchise whether by expansion, which hasn’t happened in 20 years, or relocation.

GIANTS: Left-hander Madison Bumgarner will make his season debut Tuesday night at home against the Diamondbacks after recovering from a broken pinkie on his pitching hand.

Bumgarner has been out since March 23, when he was hit by a line drive from Kansas City’s Whit Merrifield in the Giants’ final game of spring training. The San Francisco ace had surgery to insert three pins into his finger.

Originally tabbed to be San Francisco’s starter on Opening Day, Bumgarner was dominant in two rehab starts in the minors. He struck out eight in 32/3 innings for Triple-A Sacramento, then fanned seven in 42/3 innings for Class A San Jose.

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