Sanchez heading to the DL

The Yankees are going to be without one of the big bats in the middle of their lineup for a while. Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone announced after Sunday’s heartbreaking extra-inning loss to the Rays that catcher Gary Sanchez was likely to be placed on the disabled list on Monday.

Sanchez suffered an injury to his right hip/groin area while running the bases during the 10th inning of Sunday’s game, hustling to avoid a double play. He’ll undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury. Boone already noted though that regardless of what the MRI shows, the hard-hitting backstop is ticketed for a trip to the disabled list.

"It's bothering me right now," Sanchez (through a translator) told reporters after the game. "What can I say, that's how baseball is sometimes. You never want something bad to happen to you, but that's part of baseball. Now I'm hoping it's not a long time."

Sanchez has been detrimental to fantasy owners in the batting average department this season, slashing .190/.291/.433. He has still been amongst the tops at his position though with 14 homers, 36 runs scored and 41 RBI. While it’s not quite the production that fantasy owners were expecting when calling his name early in spring drafts, it’s still production that’s going to be near impossible to replace on the waiver wire.

The Yankees plan to recall Kyle Higashioka from Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre on Monday, but that’s just to provide depth behind the plate. This will be Austin Romine’s show while Sanchez is sidelined and should lead to Romine having fantasy value in deeper mixed leagues and two-catcher formats.

Romine, 29, is slashing a robust .305/.370/.524 with four homers and 20 RBI in 92 plate appearances this season.  While he’s excited for the opportunity to play, he expressed his concern for Sanchez after Sunday’s game, "You never want to see your starter go down, especially with a player the caliber that Gary is… He's a big part of the team. I just have to fill in the best I can."

Enrique Hernandez

Dodger Dingers

The Dodgers tied a National League record in Sunday’s 8-7 victory over the Mets in 11 innings at Citi Field, clubbing seven solo home runs. The last team to accomplish that feat was the 2006 Atlanta Braves.

It was also the first time that any opponent had hit seven home runs in a game at Citi Field against the Mets. Sunday also marked just the fifth time in Dodgers’ franchise history that seven home runs had been hit in a single contest. It also marked the first time since 2014 in which the Dodgers had two players have multi-homer games in the same game.

Enrique Hernandez, who makes a living crushing left-handed pitching, led the way for the Dodgers. He started the game with a bang, blasting a leadoff homer off of Mets’ left-hander Jerry Blevins, who was making his first career start after 532 appearances out of the bullpen. In those outings out of the bullpen, Blevins had never surrendered two home runs in a single game, let alone back-to-back homers. That’s exactly what happened on Sunday though, as Max Muncy followed Hernandez with a solo shot to left field.

The third long ball came off of Tim Peterson in the fourth inning, where Cody Bellinger clubbed his 14th home run of the season. Hernandez was back at it again in the sixth inning, this time taking right-hander Chris Beck deep to tie the game at 4-4.

Joc Pederson got in on the action at put the Dodgers ahead 5-4 with his towering blast off of Anthony Swarzak in the seventh inning. Cody Bellinger then doubled down, belting his second bomb of the game, also off of Swarzak, in the eighth inning. That increased the Dodgers lead to 7-4 and seemed to put the game on ice.

That wouldn’t be the case though, as Kevin Plawecki would clobber a three-run homer in the bottom half of the eighth inning to tie the game at 7-7.

The score would remain that way until the 11th inning, where Justin Turner hit the most important of the Dodgers’ seven long balls in the contest. His shot off of Chris Flexen propelled the Dodgers to their 8-7 victory.

Turner talked to reporters about his approach in that final at-bat, "I was just trying to hit the ball on the barrel… t's been a whole road trip of getting beat, getting jammed. What a day, a bunch of home runs and sweep a series against the Mets on the road. It will make for a happy flight going home.

Sale Silences Mariners

The Mariners had brought their hitting sticks with them for their weekend series at Fenway Park, scoring 21 runs to earn a split over the first two games of their weekend set. The Red Sox entered Sunday’s game needing to find a way to silence those red-hot bats.

Challenge accepted.

Red Sox’ ace Chris Sale delivered an outstanding performance, racking up 13 strikeouts while scattering just four hits and one walk over seven shutout innings. He generated a whopping 26 swinging strikes in the ballgame.

It was the second straight start in which Sale has struck out 10+ batters, and the sixth time that he has done so in 17 starts on the season. He also exhibited the highest velocity that we have ever seen from the 29-year-old southpaw, throwing a pair of pitches (both on third strikes to Mike Zunino) over 100.4 mph. His reading of 100.5 on his final strikeout of the night was the hardest pitch that he’s ever thrown in an MLB game.

Here’s how Sale explained his increased velocity when asked about it after the game, "I think it's just getting back into a little bit better rhythm… I've been saying the same thing over the last three or four starts -- it's feeling good and getting into that tempo and getting back into a little bit better rhythm than I had been starting the year. I put a lot of work into it. I'm glad where we're at."

Sale now sits at 7-4 on the season with a 2.56 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and American League-leading 153 strikeouts.

With the Red Sox’ victory, and the Yankees loss on Sunday, the two clubs sit in a tie for first place in the American League East. All eyes will certainly be on Sale for his start against the Bombers next weekend.

American League Quick Hits: Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported that Hanley Ramirez is not under federal investigation. Apparently, a friend of his simply dropped his name in an effort to avoid arrest. Ramirez will continue to look for a place to play, no knowing that the cloud over his head from this fiasco is over with and shouldn't negatively impact him… Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported that the Rangers have made Adrian Beltre available via trade… Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports that the Red Sox are one of the teams interested in Orioles’ left-hander Zach Britton… Jean Segura missed his fourth straight game due to an infection in his arm, though he was able to work out with the team prior to the game and is still expected to avoid the disabled list… Joey Gallo sat out Sunday’s game with a tight left hamstring… Mark Trumbo sat out Sunday’s game due to a sore right knee… Blue Jays’ pitching prospect Ryan Borucki will make his MLB debut on Tuesday against the Astros… Tyler Skaggs has officially been cleared to return to the Angels’ rotation on Monday against the Royals...Garrett Richards (hamstring) will throw a bullpen session on Monday. If all goes well, he could make a minor league rehab start next weekend… Astros’ general manager Jeff Lunhow said Sunday that there’s a “decent likelihood” that top outfield prospect Kyle Tucker will make his MLB debut this summer... White Sox’ pitching prospect Dane Dunning will undergo an MRI on his right elbow after leaving Saturday’s start at Double-A Birmingham with an elbow strain... Edwin Encarnacion homered and drove in five runs as the Indians crushed the Tigers to sweep their weekend series… Francisco Lindor belted his 19th home run and Jose Ramirez crushed his American League-leading 23rd long ball as well in that win… Yoan Moncada homered and plated a career-high six runs as the White Sox routed the Athletics… Jake Bauers clubbed a walk-off homer off of Chasen Shreve in the 12th inning to sink the Yankees… Gerrit Cole punched out eight over five innings of one-run ball in a victory over the Royals… Yuli Gurriel homered, doubled twice and drove in four runs to pace the Astros’ offense in that victory… Kendrys Morales blasted a pinch-hit game-winning homer in the 10th inning against the Angels… Martin Maldonado went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI in a loss to the Blue Jays… Jose Berrios struck out a career-high 12 batters over seven scoreless frames in an impressive victory over the Rangers… Giancarlo Stanton had the second five-hit game of his career, going 5-for-5 with a homer and two doubles as the Yankees fell to the Rays in extra innings.

National League Quick Hits: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that the Padres have expressed interest in acquiring third baseman Maikel Franco from the Phillies. Franco then had to be removed from Sunday’s game against the Nationals after he slipped on a wet first base and sustained a possible knee injury… Ronald Acuna (knee) is not expected to return from the disabled list on Monday. He’s still traveling with Triple-A Gwinnett and is expected to play another couple of games there first before rejoining the big league club… Kris Bryant missed a second straight game on Sunday due to a sore left shoulder… The Mets are giving slumping shortstop Amed Rosario a few days off to “work on some things”... Braves’ closer Arodys Vizcaino landed on the 10-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. A.J. Minter and Dan Winkler are expected to hold down the ninth inning in his stead… Yu Darvish (triceps) will begin a minor league rehab assignment with Low-A South Bend on Monday… Noah Syndergaard (finger) made it through a 15-pitch bullpen session on Sunday without any issues… Chris Taylor missed his third straight game due to his tight left hamstring… Matt Albers is slated to resume his throwing program on Tuesday… Travis Jankowski was a late scratch from the Padres’ lineup due to soreness in his quad… Brandon Nimmo left Sunday’s game after getting hit by three pitches. He sustained only a bruised right pinkie and is considered day-to-day… Travis Shaw was forced to leave Sunday’s game after aggravating his right wrist injury… Clay Buchholz had to depart Sunday’s start against the Pirates with tightness in his left side… Walker Buehler (ribs) threw a successful bullpen session on Sunday as he continues to work his way back from a microfracture in his rib… Caleb Smith had to leave Sunday’s start against the Rockies in the second inning due to left shoulder tightness. He’s considered day-to-day…  Miguel Rojas will undergo an MRI on his injured left hand on Monday… Kevin Plawecki homered and drove in four runs as the Mets fell to the Dodgers in extra innings… Derek Dietrich went 4-for-5 with a homer and two RBI as the Marlins dispatched of the Rockies… Nolan Arenado blasted his fifth home run in his last six games in a losing effort against the Fish… Daniel Murphy hit a go-ahead two-run single with two outs in the eighth inning, leading the Nationals past the Phillies...Luke Weaver struck out nine over 5 ⅔ innings of two-run ball to beat the Brewers… Brad Hand blew his second straight save, giving up a pair of runs in the 11th inning against the Giants… Hunter Pence came through with a two-run single to lead the Giants to walk-off win over the Padres in the 11th inning.