CLEVELAND — Cleveland Indians Manager Terry Francona is feeling better after undergoing surgeries and a hospital stay, but it may be some time before he’s healthy enough to rejoin the AL Central leaders.
Francona has missed 23 games after having surgery for a gastrointestinal issue at the Cleveland Clinic and then having complications from blood clotting.
“The good news is he is feeling better,” said Chris Antonetti, Cleveland’s president of baseball operations. “He still is recovering, so it will still be a little while before he rejoins us, but I was real encouraged by the way he looked today and I know he said he’s feeling better, which is all great news.
“But he has been through a lot and he’s in the middle of a recovery so I still expect it will be some time before he rejoins us.”
NATIONALS: Left fielder Juan Soto was removed from the lineup for the first game of a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves because of a sore left shoulder.
The 21-year-old Soto is hitting .354 with 11 homers and 26 RBI despite missing the first eight games of the season because of a positive test for the coronavirus, although he never had symptoms.
CARDINALS: Catcher Matt Wieters was activated from the 10-day injured list after being sidelined by a broken left big toe.
CUBS: Chicago agreed to a minor league deal with Pedro Strop, bringing back the popular reliever after he was released by Cincinnati.
FRIDAY’S GAMES
TWINS SWEEP TIGERS: Marwin Gonzalez singled home Willians Astudillo in the eighth inning, and Minnesota rallied to complete a doubleheader sweep with a 3-2 win in Minneapolis.
Astudillo started on second base with the eighth inning considered an extra inning because of the seven-inning doubleheader rule. Gonzalez hit a grounder up the middle and Detroit center fielder Derek Hill, making his major league debut, bobbled the ball, allowing Astudillo to score easily.
In Game 1, Jorge Polanco and Josh Donaldson hit back-to-back homers to lead off the bottom of the first inning, and Randy Dobnak (6-2) pitched five scoreless innings as Minnesota won 2-0.
Polanco and Donaldson became the first duo to lead off the game with homers for Minnesota since Eduardo Núñez and Brian Dozier in 2016 against Kansas City.
BRAVES, NATIONALS SPLIT: Trea Turner gave Washington the lead by hitting a sixth-inning home run off Will Smith and the Nationals held on in the seventh for a 19-9 victory, earning a doubleheader split in Atlanta.
Ronald Acuna Jr. homered twice and Dansby Swanson added a two-run shot as Atlanta won the opener, 7-1.
REDS, PIRATES SPLIT: Recently acquired outfielder Anthony Alford hit a two-run triple off Trevor Bauer and Pittsburgh earned a doubleheader split with a 4-3 win over visiting Cincinnati.
Luis Castillo (1-5) pitched six strong innings in Game 1 to pick up his first victory in nearly a year as Cincinnati won, 4-2.
YANKEES, ORIOLES SPLIT: Rookie Ryan Mountcastle drove in three runs, and Baltimore ended its 19-game losing streak against visiting New York by winning the second game of a doubleheader, 6-3.
In the opener, Miguel Andújar singled in the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning and Clint Frazier added an RBI single to give New York a 6-5 win. Gary Sanchez homered and Brett Gardner drove in two runs for the Yankees.
Mountcastle hit a two-run homer off 21-year-old Deivi García in second inning of the nightcap and sparked a four-run fifth inning with an RBI single off Clarke Schmidt, who was making his major league debut. Rio Ruiz followed with a run-scoring single and Pat Valaika capped the uprising with a two-run double.
That helped Baltimore secure its first win over New York since March 31, 2019. It also snapped the Yankees’ 18-game winning streak at Camden Yards.
RAYS 5, MARLINS 4: Rookie left-hander Josh Fleming won his third consecutive start, Michael Perez hit a three-run double and AL East-leading Tampa Bay won at home.
Yoshi Tsutsugo homered for the Rays, who have won 20 of 25. Tampa Bay has a nine-game winning streak against Miami.
The Marlins got homers from Corey Dickerson and Jesus Aguilar.
CUBS 4, CARDINALS 1: Yu Darvish pitched seven dazzling innings in his seventh consecutive win, and host Chicago padded its NL Central lead.
Willson Contreras had three hits and four RBI, including a leadoff drive in the sixth for his fifth homer. He also had a two-run single on the ninth pitch of his at-bat against Jack Flaherty in the first.
Darvish (7-1) was working on a perfect game before Matt Carpenter opened the sixth with his second homer. The Japanese right-hander then retired his last six batters, striking out three more to give him 11 on the night.
BREWERS 7, INDIANS 1: Corbin Burnes pitched six strong innings, and Keston Hiura hit an RBI double in Milwaukee’s four-run seventh inning as the Brewers won at home.
PHILLIES 5, METS 3: Jake Arrieta bounced back from the shortest start of his career by pitching seven solid innings, leading visiting Philadelphia to its fifth straight win.
Roman Quinn snapped a tie with a two-out, RBI single in the seventh.
WHITE SOX 7, ROYALS 3: Jose Abreu extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a two-run double, Eloy Jimenez had three hits and Chicago won at Kansas City.
MARINERS 6, RANGERS 3: Yusei Kikuchi struck out seven, J.P. Crawford hit a three-run homer and Seattle won at home.
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