Baseball Wiretap

Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal pitched five scoreless innings Sunday in the two-time Cy Young Award winner's first minor league rehabilitation appearance since undergoing elbow surgery last month.

Skubal struck out six and allowed two hits for High-A West Michigan against Dayton. Forty-four of his 54 pitches were strikes, with his fastball reaching 98 mph.

"Velocity was good," Skubal told reporters. "Execution was good. I feel like I threw a ton of strikes. I was in the zone a lot today. Good day."

Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman put the blame for his team's offensive woes squarely on himself after going 0-for-5 and making the last out in his team's 2-1 loss in 10 innings to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday night.

"I've been terrible," Bregman said. "I need to play better. Offensively, it's been awful. I've failed many times in this game. I've struggled. I've started slow before. I've started fast before. When you're struggling, there is only one way forward and that's straight, head-on through it. It comes down to executing in the game."

Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow was transferred to the 60-day injured list Saturday, another sign that his balky back is hindering his rehab progression.

The 32-year-old right-hander has been out since May 8, two days after a back spasm surfaced. Initially, the team expected him to miss a short period of time.

Instead, Glasnow was shut down and manager Dave Roberts said the pitcher still hasn't been cleared to resume a throwing program.

The Cincinnati Reds have moved up their timetable for right-hander Hunter Greene's return, with the team hopeful that their ace can be back on the mound before the All-Star break in July.

Greene, who was the Reds' Opening Day starter in 2023 and 2025, had bone chips removed on March 11. Cincinnati expected him to be sidelined 14 to 16 weeks.

He is scheduled to throw live batting practice Monday, manager Terry Francona told reporters Saturday, and he could soon start a minor league rehab assignment to build up his arm strength.

Right-hander Joel Kuhnel was acquired by the Milwaukee Brewers from the Athletics for cash on Saturday after Brian Fitzpatrick became their eighth pitcher on the injured list.

Fitzpatrick was placed on the 15-day injured list after he hurt his left elbow Friday following one warmup pitch in the seventh inning against Colorado Rockies.

"He's got a strain of the UCL," manager Pat Murphy said of Fitzpatrick. "We're going to get another opinion on it to see if we're just going to rehab or if he has to get another Tommy John. We want to get our doctor's hands on him. Rehab it right now."

Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski threw a 103.7 mph pitch Saturday night against the Colorado Rockies, the fastest by a starter since tracking began in 2008.

The 24-year-old right-hander's record-setting pitch was low and outside to Kyle Karros in the third inning.

"It's one of those things: It is what it is," Misiorowski said. "I'm going to keep going, trying to get strikeouts, and if that's what it takes to get strikeouts, then so be it."

The Yankees' days of carrying only left-handed-hitting catchers are over, at least for now.

The team optioned catcher J.C. Escarra to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre late Friday night after a 5-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox. A corresponding move was not announced, but the Yankees plan to call up right-handed-hitting catcher Ali Sánchez on Saturday, sources told ESPN.

The Minnesota Twins recalled infielder Royce Lewis from Triple-A St. Paul on Saturday, less than three weeks after the former No. 1 draft pick was sent down to work on his swing mechanics and position flexibility.

Lewis, who turned 27 on Friday, was hitting .163 with three home runs and 37 strikeouts in 104 at-bats this season when the Twins demoted him on May 19. In 15 games with St. Paul, he hit .333 with 10 home runs.

While his team is mired in an offensive slump, Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer called the Aug. 3 trade deadline "the furthest thing from my mind," while also acknowledging the organization's needs if the Cubs are in the race at that time.

"Our position player group is deep, and it's pretty set," Hoyer said Friday morning. "The backbone of our team is our position players. They have to play well for us to be a good team.

"We'll be looking at pitching at that point. [But] sitting here talking about the deadline, given how we've played, is the wrong thing to talk about."

A race to first based turned into a violent collision that sent two players sprawling onto the field and, eventually, into the dugout.

Arizona's Ildemaro Vargas and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Max Muncy are sore but otherwise OK, but, boy, what a jolt.

"It was terrible," Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte said through an interpreter after hitting a walk-off homer in Arizona's 3-2 win over Los Angeles on Thursday night. "In my 10 years, I've never seen a collision like that."