Rangers sluggers Cruz and Hamilton nearing rehab games - MLB

The Rangers should be whole again soon.

According to the Associated Press, via NBCSports.com, right fielder Nelson Cruz is scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Monday at Double-A Frisco and left fielder Josh Hamilton is expected to join him on Wednesday.

Cruz has been sidelined since May 3, when he strained his right quadriceps muscle. He should only need three or four rehab games before the Rangers clear him to return to the major leagues.

Hamilton might need a bit longer. He’s been on the disabled list since the second week of the regular season with a broken bone in his upper right arm and is likely to require a full week of minor league at-bats to get his timing back.

Texas is also missing starting center fielder Julio Borbon, who hit the disabled list this weekend due to inflammation in his left hamstring. It’s no wonder the Rangers have fallen to second place in the AL West.

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”