No charges will be filed against Miguel Sano - MLB

UPDATE: It turns out that the accident which led to Miguel Sano‘s arrest was not a nefarious matter after all.

A Dominican Republic national police spokesman told ESPN’s Enrique Rojas that Sano was with his wife leaving a nightclub when he was questioned by police because his vehicle did not have a license plate and he didn’t have his driver’s license on him. After the conversation, Sano began to back up his pickup truck without realizing that the police officer had not moved his motorcycle from behind him. Sano was detained by police for several hours after the accident, but the officer who was injured “declared that the accident was not intentional.”

So, much ado about something that sounded like something but turned out to be, well, not nothing, but not anything bad.

10:22 AM: Last night reports emerged that Twins third baseman Miguel Sano was arrested, and then released, following a hit and run accident in which he allegedly ran over a police officer outside of a club in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The incident reportedly left the police officer with a broken leg.

The police report — viewed by local news sources but not yet available publicly as far as we can tell — said that Sano was driving a white truck without license plates and was not carrying identification. Sano was released from custody after promising to meet with authorities today.

The Twins have released a statement:

“The Minnesota Twins have been made aware of a situation involving Miguel Sano recently in the Dominican Republic. The facts of the incident are not completely available right now but the club is in the process of gathering as much information as possible.”

It has been a controversy-filled year for Sano. Last December he was accused of sexual assault by a female photographer but no charges were filed and Major League Baseball subsequently declined to discipline Sano. On the baseball side of things, offseason leg surgery and then an April hamstring injury led to an out-of-shape Sano’s 2018 season being delayed and resulted in (a) the worst year of his big league career; and (b) an extended minor league assignment.

Obviously we’ll be hearing more about this latest incident in the coming days.

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PITTSBURGH – When he’s on, Rich Hill‘s pitches still dance. They still dart. They go this way. Then that way. They can baffle hitters with their movement, particularly the ones that don’t come close to breaking the speed limit on most interstates.

In a game that seems to get faster each year, Hill is a throwback. A survivor. At 43 and 19 years into a career he figured would have been over long ago, the well-traveled left-hander knows he’s essentially playing on borrowed time.

Hill is in Pittsburgh to show a young staff how to be a pro while occasionally showing the kids he can still bring it. That example was on display in a 2-1 victory over St. Louis on Sunday that gave Pittsburgh a three-game sweep of its longtime NL Central nemesis.

Knowing the bullpen needed a bit of a break, Hill (5-5) kept the Cardinals off balance for 6 2/3 innings, expertly weaving in and out of trouble with a series of curveballs that hover around 70 mph offset by a fastball that can touch 90 mph but plays up because everything else comes in so much softer.

Hill walked three and struck out six while giving up just one run, a seventh-inning homer by Andrew Knizner that drew the Cardinals within one. He allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in the first four innings and stranded them all as the Pirates pushed their winning streak to five.

“He threw the pitches he wanted to throw,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “They didn’t swing at them. The fact that he’s able to just bounce back and continue to execute shows how savvy he is as a veteran.”

Ji Hwan Bae‘s two-run single off Miles Mikolas (4-2) in the first provided all the offense Hill would need as Pittsburgh swept St. Louis for the first time in five years. Ke'Bryan Hayes singled three times and is hitting .562 (9 for 16) over his last four games after a 3-for-32 funk dropped him to seventh in the batting order.

David Bednar worked the ninth for his 13th save and third in as many days, striking out Knizner with a 98 mph fastball that provided an exclamation point to three days of tight, meaningful baseball, the kind the Pirates haven’t played much of for the better part of a decade.

“We know we have a very good team,” Hill said. “We’ve had meetings in here and we talk about it and reinforce it and just continue to go out there and give that effort every single night and understand that (if) we continue to put in the work, it’ll start to show every night on the field.”

Tommy Edman had two hits for the Cardinals, and designated hitter Luken Baker picked up the first two hits of his career after being called up from Triple-A Memphis early Sunday.

The middle of the St. Louis lineup – Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman and Nolan Arenado – went a combined 0 for 11 as St. Louis lost for the fifth time in six games. The Cardinals left 27 men on base at PNC Park over the weekend to fall back into last place in one of the weakest divisions in the majors.

It’s a division the Pirates – coming off back-to-back 100-loss seasons – are managing to hang around the top of for a solid two months. The bullpen has evolved into a strength, with Bednar at the back end and a series of flashy hard throwers like Dauri Moreta in the middle.

Moreta came on for Hill with two outs in the seventh and struck out Goldschmidt with the tying run at first while Hill was in the dugout accepting high-fives, already thinking about his next start, likely on Saturday against the New York Mets. It’s a mindset that has kept Hill around for far longer than he ever imagined.

“Every time he picks up a baseball, I know he feels blessed to be able to continue to throw baseballs for a living,” Pirates catcher Austin Hedges said. “I think that’s one of the best things he can teach our young guys.”

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Continue a six-game road trip in Texas against the Rangers on Monday. Adam Wainwright (2-1, 6.15 ERA) faces Martín Pérez (6-1, 4.43 ERA) in the opener.

Pirates: A season-long nine-game homestand continues on Monday when lowly Oakland visits. Johan Oviedo (3-4, 4.50 ERA) gets the start against JP Sears (0-3, 4.37 ERA).