Bases Covered is a daily roundup of the most interesting stories in baseball.
A whole lot of Tommy John
San Diego Padres right-hander Josh Johnson will reportedly undergo his third Tommy John surgery, possibly as early as next week. The surgery is just the latest move in his attempt to return to the bigs; Johnson, 31, hasn’t pitched a major-league game since 2013.
Peavy’s homer
The Giants’ pitchers sure have some power at the plate. Right-hander Jake Peavy became the latest San Francisco hurler to go yard: he hit his first home run in more than nine years on Wednesday in San Francisco’s 5–3 victory over the Reds. The 34-year-old didn’t immediately realize he’d hit a long ball, though. How long did it take? “When I got past second,” Peavy explained, “and saw the umpire doing the thing with his finger.”
Rangers build on lead
The Astros lost their third game in a row courtesy of the Texas Rangers, who crushed their cross-state rivals 14–3. “We can’t let up now,” said Prince Fielder, whose bat has been productive of late, and whose Rangers now hold a 1.5-game lead over the Astros in the AL West. While it was mostly bad news for the Astros, there was a bright spot for the team: Evan Gattis hit an insane one-handed homer off Andrew Faulkner, and it was something to behold.
Weaver gets ejected
Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager and Angels pitcher Jered Weaver exchanged some nasty words on Wednesday. Weaver became upset with Seager, who stepped out of the batter’s box, as is his custom, and Seager didn’t appreciate Weaver’s disapproval. Weaver then plunked Seager with an 83-mph fastball and was promptly ejected. The benches nearly cleared, but a brawl was avoided. Seager had some more choice words for Weaver after the game: “It definitely escalated and he handled it the way he wanted to,” he said. “But from my perspective he quit on his team and I didn’t quit on mine.”
Kluber returns
Corey Kluber will make his first start since August on Thursday. The reigning Cy Young Award winner has been out with a strained hamstring. Kluber, who is 8-13 with a 3.41 ERA, will face the Royals at Progressive Field. With his team surging, they’ll hope for Kluber to come up big; Cleveland is currently within four games of a Wild Card spot.
