ANAHEIM, Calif. — Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout will have surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, sidelining the three-time AL MVP indefinitely.

The Angels believe Trout will be able to return this season, general manager Perry Minasian said while announcing the injury Tuesday.

Trout is batting .220 with a major league-leading 10 homers, 14 RBI and six stolen bases this year, but he will be sidelined by a major injury for the fourth consecutive season.

Trout had an MRI after playing in the Angels’ 6-5 victory over Philadelphia on Monday. The outfielder fought back tears while describing the pain that gradually crept up on him after the game.

“It’s crazy, because I look back and I don’t even know when I did it,” Trout said.

Trout’s latest injury is another major blow to the Angels, who are off to an 11-18 start in their first season since Shohei Ohtani’s free-agent departure. Los Angeles also has lost $245 million third baseman Anthony Rendon indefinitely to a torn hamstring.

Trout, 32, won his three MVP awards during a dominant decade of play in the 2010s, but the formerly durable outfielder has been bedeviled by injuries since 2021.

He missed all but 36 games of the 2021 season with a strained calf, and he missed several weeks of the 2022 season with a back injury. Trout then broke a bone in his hand last season, missing all but one game after July 3.

ASTROS: The Houston Astros will option slumping first baseman José Abreu to their spring training facility to try and get the 2020 AL MVP back on track.

General Manager Dana Brown made the announcement Tuesday, saying that they’d make the move Wednesday. The 37-year-old will report to the Astros’ complex in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Brown said the decision was made after a meeting that included himself, Abreu, coaches and front-office personnel.

Abreu, in the second season of a $58.5 million, three-year contract, is hitting .099 with just one extra-base hit and three RBI. In 77 plate appearances across 22 games this season, Abreu has just seven hits.

Brown said Abreu was very receptive during their conversation and had a good attitude about the move.

The Astros selected the contract of Joey Loperfido from Triple-A Sugar Land and he will likely play some first base, but Brown indicated that he’d mostly be used in the outfield. The 24-year-old was set to make his major league debut Tuesday night against the Guardians in left field, leaving Jon Singleton to fill in for Abreu at first base. Singleton entered Tuesday hitting .238 with 10 hits and no RBI.

Abreu was the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year and is a three-time All-Star and a three-time Silver Slugger award winner. He in his 11th big league season.

“He got to the point where he was frustrated,” Brown said. “It’s rare to do it. But I think it tells us about his dedication and commitment and I don’t think he sees this as a long term and I don’t think we see it as a long term thing. I think it’s more like… let’s go down, let’s make some adjustments. Let’s get the rhythm and timing back. And I think in his eyes, he’s looking at it as I’ll be back in a couple of weeks or whatever it takes to get better.”

Abreu hit .237 with 18 home runs and 90 RBI last season in his first year in Houston after nine seasons with the White Sox. He had four homers and 13 RBI in 11 postseason games.

“The bat speed is still pretty good,” Brown said. “So, we’ve got to get his timing right and we’ve got to get his rhythm right, so that he can consistently do it. And so I still feel very optimistic about it.”

DODGERS: Shohei Ohtani’s 450-foot home run on Monday night at Nationals Park was the hardest hit of his career.

The Los Angeles Dodgers star’s ninth-inning shot to the second deck in right field off Washington Nationals reliever Matt Barnes in the Dodgers 4-1 win left his bat at 118.7 mph.

“I thought I hit it really good,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, Will Ireton. “I felt really good about it. Probably the best.”

It is the hardest-hit home run by a Dodger in the Statcast era, which began in 2015. The designated hitter leads the majors in batting average (.364), slugging percentage (.677) and OPS (1.107). He has six home runs in his first 25 games with Los Angeles since signing a 10-year, $700 million contract.

TWINS: The Minnesota Twins reinstated closer Jhoan Duran from the 15-day injured list after a strained right oblique muscle kept him out of the team’s first 28 games.

Duran was hurt while warming up for a live batting practice session in spring training on March 17. The right-hander made two appearances with Triple-A St. Paul last week on a rehabilitation assignment, allowing two runs on four hits with five strikeouts in two innings.

The 26-year-old Duran has a 2.15 ERA with 173 strikeouts in 130 innings over his first two major league seasons. He has 35 career saves.

ROCKIES: Colorado’s highly-rated outfielder Jordan Beck was brought up from the minor leagues to make his major league debut against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night.

Colorado selected the contract of the 23-year-old from Triple-A Albuquerque, where he was hitting .307 with a .999 OPS through 25 games. Colorado picked Beck 38th overall in the 2022 amateur draft from Tennessee, and he is the Rockies’ No. 4 prospect.

The 23-year-old Beck was in the lineup to bat eighth and play left field. He was assigned No. 27, worn by star shortstop Trevor Story from 2016-21.

RANGERS: Right-hander Max Scherzer was scratched from his second scheduled rehab start because of thumb soreness.

The soreness is similar to what Scherzer experienced last year before being sidelined for the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs for the World Series champion Rangers.

Scherzer is rehabbing from surgery in mid-December to repair a herniated disk in his lower back, and said that isn’t giving him any issues.

Texas Manager Bruce Bochy classified it as a “minor setback” for the three-time Cy Young Award winner.

TUESDAY’S GAMES

CARDINALS-TIGERS SPLIT: Wenceel Pérez hit homers from both sides of the plate, including a tie-breaking blast in the fifth inning, to help Detroit beat visiting St. Louis 11-6 to split a doubleheader.

In the opener, Jack Flaherty tied an American League record with seven straight strikeouts to start a game and struck out a career-high 14 before St. Louis rallied with a two-run ninth inning to beat Detroit 2-1.

The Tigers went ahead again in the second game and pulled away with a four-run seventh.

Flaherty’s seven strikeouts matched the AL record shared by four other pitchers. Miami Marlins right-hander Pablo López set the major league record by striking out the first nine batters of a game in 2021.

ORIOLES 4, YANKEES 2: Dean Kremer pitched seven innings of two-run ball, Adley Rutschman extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games and Baltimore won at home.

Baltimore won the first two games of a four-game series between the AL East’s top teams and opened a one-game AL East lead, the largest this season for the defending division champion.

Juan Soto hit a 447-foot homer and Austin Wells also had a solo drive for the Yankees, which has lost 4 of 6 and scored just two runs in the series.

ROYALS 4, BLUE JAYS 1: Michael Massey hit a two-run home run, Cole Ragans struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings, and visiting Kansas City ended a three-game losing streak.

Bobby Witt Jr. reached base three times and drove in a run as the Royals improved to 17-11 in April. It’s the most victories Kansas City has had in a month since going 17-9 in June 2017.

METS 4, CUBS 2: DJ Stewart hit a tie-breaking three-run homer in the sixth inning, lifting New York over visiting Chicago.

Stewart, whose roster spot could have been in jeopardy with the activation of J.D. Martinez last week and the return Tuesday of Starling Marte from the bereavement list, had just three hits in his previous 23 at-bats before homering into the second deck in right field against Adbert Alzolay (1-3) to give New York a 4-1 lead.

MARLINS 7, ROCKIES 6: Dane Myers hit a winning single in the 10th inning as Miami overcame a five-run deficit to beat visiting Colorado, making the Rockies the first team since 1900 to trail in each of its first 29 games.

Miami (7-24) bounced back from a 5-0 first-inning deficit by scoring five times in the ninth, then rallied from down 6-5 in the 10th and ended a seven-game losing streak.

The Rockies (7-22) had lost Sunday and joined the 1910 St. Louis Browns as the only teams to trail in each of their first 28 games.

Colorado never was behind until after the final pitch.

Copy the Story Link