LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles prosecutors won’t charge Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer for allegedly beating and sexually abusing a San Diego woman he met through social media.

Prosecutors were unable to prove the San Diego woman’s accusations beyond a reasonable doubt, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.

Bauer, 31, was placed on paid leave on July 2 under the players’ union and Major League Baseball’s joint domestic violence and sexual assault policy after the woman said he choked her into unconsciousness, punched her repeatedly and had anal sex with her without her consent during two sexual encounters. MLB and the union eventually agreed to extend his administrative leave through the end of the postseason.

MLB and the Pasadena Police Department both launched investigations. Police turned over the results of their investigation to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office in August.

Bauer has said through representatives that everything that happened between the two was “wholly consensual” in the nights they spent together in April and May at his Pasadena home.

Regardless of what happens in the legal case, Bauer could face a potential suspension by MLB of any length it chooses.

“MLB’s investigation is ongoing, and we will comment further at the appropriate time,” the league said in a statement Tuesday.

The Dodgers said they would not comment until the league’s probe concludes.

The allegations against Bauer first surfaced publicly during the summer when the woman sought a protection order against the new Dodgers star. The woman said in court documents seeking the order that she and Bauer met on Instagram when she tagged him in a photo while he pitched during a game against the San Diego Padres in April.

She later visited his home and had sexual encounters that began as consensual but grew violent without her consent, the documents said. The second incident – in which she alleges Bauer repeatedly punched her – left her with two black eyes, a bloodied swollen lip, significant bruising and scratching to one side of her face, according to the documents. She included photographs showing the injuries.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault.

The 27-year-old woman also testified extensively about the encounters during a four-day hearing but her request for a restraining order was denied by Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman of Los Angeles Superior Court. The judge found that Bauer honored the woman’s boundaries when the woman set them, and could not have known about those he violated because she didn’t express them clearly.

The judge noted that in the woman’s communications with Bauer, the woman “was not ambiguous about wanting rough sex in the parties’ first encounter, and wanting rougher sex in the second encounter.”

“We consider in a sexual encounter that when a woman says no she should be believed,” Gould-Saltman said, “so what should we do when she says yes?”

Bauer hasn’t spoken publicly on the matter and he didn’t testify at the civil hearing.

Bauer, the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner, joined his hometown Dodgers earlier this year on a $102 million, three-year contract. He had a record of 8-2 and a 2.59 ERA in 17 appearances before being placed on leave.

It’s possible Bauer would contest any discipline handed down by MLB in an attempt to salvage his career and salary.

Of the 13 players suspended by MLB under the domestic violence and sexual assault policy, 10 were not publicly charged. None of them appealed.

Bauer could be the one who does.

He has a reputation for disparaging people on social media, he has complained publicly about MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, and he has gone to arbitration when he didn’t like a previous team’s salary offers. His representatives attacked the credibility of the San Diego woman who accused him of sexual assault.
Bauer could file a grievance if MLB suspends him. The case would go before an arbitrator who would decide it.

TRIAL: A former Los Angeles Angels employee on trial over charges of providing Tyler Skaggs the drugs that caused his overdose death lied to police about whether he saw the Angels pitcher the night before he was found dead, a federal prosecutor alleged in opening statements.

Eric Prescott Kay’s lead defense attorney said his client didn’t give Skaggs drugs that night and there was no way to know whether the fentanyl Kay is accused of providing was the cause of Skaggs’ death in Texas.

Defense attorney Reagan Wynn told jurors Kay entered Skaggs’ hotel room in a Dallas suburb on June 30, 2019, to find the pitcher sitting at a table with lines of powdery substances in front of him. Wynn said Skaggs told Kay a drug Kay didn’t recognize was something he had shared with Matt Harvey, who pitched for the Angels that season.

Skaggs, 27, was found dead in his hotel room on July 1, 2019, after the team had traveled from Los Angeles and before the start of what was supposed to be a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. The first game was postponed.

A coroner’s report said Skaggs had choked to death on his vomit with a toxic mix of alcohol and the drugs fentanyl and oxycodone in his system.

Kay faces charges of drug distribution and drug conspiracy in Skaggs’ death. The trial is expected to last about a week.

Lead prosecutor Lindsey Beran told jurors the evidence would show Kay was the only person who could have provided the drugs that led to Skaggs’ death, and characterized him as more concerned about protecting himself than caring about the welfare of Skaggs’ family.

“There was only one person that went to Tyler Skaggs’ hotel room, and lied to police about it,” Beran said.

Kay was the Angels’ director of communications, and he served as their public relations contact on many trips. He was placed on leave shortly after Skaggs’ death, and never returned to the team.

Wynn acknowledged to jurors that Kay lied to police. Kay was on his first trip since being away from the team for about a month for treatment of an addiction to oxycodone, Wynn said. Kay is accused of obtaining drugs for himself, Skaggs and others.

Andrew Heaney, a teammate and close friend of Skaggs for five seasons with the Angels, was the first witness.

Heaney detailed his efforts to reach Skaggs the day he was found dead, and his growing concern as calls and texts went unanswered. He said the two were close, but he didn’t know about Skaggs’ dealings with Kay. Heaney was traded to the New York Yankees last season and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in November.

Beran said Kay and Skaggs didn’t have a close relationship outside the team setting, but Wynn disputed that, saying, “They certainly had a relationship, a relationship they certainly tried to keep secret.”

Wynn said Kay’s addiction to painkillers went back years, and that Kay first connected with Skaggs during spring training in 2014 when Kay was looking for ways to obtain pills. Wynn said Skaggs told Kay in 2014, “You came to the right guy,” and invited him to the place he was staying in Arizona that night.

After Skaggs missed all of 2015 coming off elbow surgery, Wynn said they “picked up where they left off” during spring training in 2016.

Beran detailed a timeline the prosecution believes made it impossible for Kay to deliver oxydocone pills during or after a home game before the team left for Texas on June 30, meaning the drugs had to be delivered after the team arrived. Wynn said Kay delivered two pills before the team traveled.

The prosecution alleges that Kay gave Skaggs counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl. Beran said Kay would often ask suppliers about pills having fentanyl, indicating he knew the danger of the drug.

Heaney is set to be questioned by defense attorneys Wednesday. Six other current or former major league players are on the witness list, including Harvey.

Pitchers Garrett Richards, Cam Bedrosian, Blake Parker and Mike Morin are on the list along with infielder C.J. Cron.

All played for the Angels at some point from 2017-19, the years prosecutors allege Kay was providing drugs to Skaggs and others. Beran said evidence would show Kay kept providing drugs to some players after they left the Angels.

LABOR: With spring training workouts unlikely to start as scheduled on Feb. 16, owners are meeting from Tuesday through Thursday in Orlando, Florida.

Union lawyers met with players in Arizona on Tuesday and have meetings in Florida scheduled for the following two days.

No negotiations on core economic issues are scheduled.

“I’m an optimist and a bit of an agreeable person by temperament so, yes, I am hopeful,” said former Mets infielder Daniel Murphy, who was a member of the players’ ruling executive subcommittee when the union rejected management’s pandemic-shortened 60-game schedule two years ago. “I would be more hopeful after the owners’ meetings in Orlando if we can have a discussion with the union. There’s been a bit of tension since the last time they were able to get an agreement together.”

Murphy said that watching talks from a distance, he hoped a negotiating schedule could be set in the next few days.

“As a baseball player, the bell rings here pretty soon. Not for me anymore. I have tee times. But we’re only a handful of days away from the scheduled start of spring training,” he said. “I’m sure there’s anxiety on both sides.”

METS: The New York Mets are bringing back Old-Timers’ Day this year for the first time since 1994 – if there is a season.

The team said Tuesday it will host an old-timers’ game before the Mets play Colorado on Aug. 27. Former players will be introduced starting at 5 p.m. ahead of the 7:10 p.m. game.

New York eliminated Old-Timers’ Day when the team was co-owned by Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday and did not attempt to restore it under the ownership of the Wilpon and Katz families, which began in 2002.

Steven Cohen bought the team ahead of the 2021 season.

“Bringing back Old Timers’ Day was one of the most passionate requests I heard from our fans,” Cohen said in a statement “As we celebrate our 60th anniversary season, having these legendary players return to the ballpark to hear cheers from Mets fans once again is the perfect way to honor our past.”

The Mets said Frank Thomas, Ron Swoboda, Jon Matlack, Felix Millan, Mookie Wilson, Howard Johnson, Bobby Ojeda, Robin Ventura, Turk Wendell, Endy Chavez, Cliff Floyd and Daniel Murphy are among more than 40 players scheduled to attend.

ROCKIES: Manager Bud Black, two wins shy of becoming the 66th manager in major league history to win 1,000 games, agreed to a one-year contract extension through the 2023 season.

Black has a 349-359 record over five seasons in Denver, including 91-72 in 2018. His 349 victories are third-most in team history, trailing Clint Hurdle’s 534 and Don Baylor’s 440.

Black, 64, who pitched in the major leagues from 1981-94, is 998-1,072 as a manager. He managed the San Diego Padres from 2007-15.

OBIT: Former Yankees outfielder Gerald Williams died Tuesday morning after a battle with cancer, his former teammate and Hall of Famer Derek Jeter announced. He was 55.

Williams played 14 years in the big leagues, half that time with the Yankees, but also with the Brewers, Braves, Rays and Mets.

MINORS: Portland native Kevin Joyce was named the hitting coach for Class A Carolina Mudcats, an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Joyce is entering his first season with both the Mudcats and the Brewers’ organization. Joyce, 57, was most recently the hitting coach of the Atlantic League’s West Virginia Power in 2021.