Adam Dunn returns after missing seven games with oblique injury - MLB

According to Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com, Adam Dunn is back in the starting lineup this afternoon against the Twins after missing seven straight games with a strained right oblique. He’s playing first base in his return.

Dunn originally tweaked his oblique on a check swing on August 29 and hasn’t played since aggravating the injury on September 5. He took batting practice without incident last night and while he told Hayes that he realizes he won’t be 100 percent, he feels good enough to give it a go.

“It’s to the point now where I get it: it’s not going to feel 100 percent,” Dunn said. “My whole thing was, I don’t want it to be one bad swing and one anything and the season is over. That’s my big concern. When I swung today it felt fine.”

Dunn is batting .208/.340/.485 with 38 home runs, 88 RBI and an .825 OPS this season. With 96 walks and 194 strikeouts, there’s still a very good chance that he’ll become the first player ever to amass 40 homers, 100 walks and 200 strikeouts in a season. Holy three-true-outcomes, Batman.

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.”