Two-thirds of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams have been able to relax coronavirus protocols after four additional clubs qualified and raised the total to 20 franchises reaching 85% vaccinations for players and other on-field personnel.
The commissioner’s office and the players’ association said Friday that two additional teams had reached the 85% level of having received final doses and will be able to relax protocols within the next two weeks once they are fully vaccinated.
Relaxed protocols include dropping the requirements for facemasks in dugouts and bullpens, and loosening restrictions on mobility during road trips.
MLB said 85.2% of Tier 1 individuals such as players, managers, coaches, trainers and support personnel had been partially or fully vaccinated, up just 0.7% from the previous week, and 82.9% had been fully vaccinated, up 1.7% from the previous week.
There were two positive tests — one for a major league player and one for a Triple-A player — among 9,291 tests in the past week, a 0.02% positive rate.
So far this season, there have been 64 positive tests — 36 players, 28 staff — among 185,551 samples tested, a 0.03% positive rate. The positive tests are among 25 teams.
Choi put on 10-day IL
The Tampa Bay Rays placed first baseman Ji-Man Choi on the 10-day injured list because of a left groin strain.
Tampa Bay made the move before the opener of a three-game series in Texas. It was retroactive to Thursday, when Choi was held out of the lineup against the Yankees despite being 8 for 12 with three homers in his career against New York ace Gerrit Cole.
Choi had played only 15 games since missing the first six weeks of the season when recovering from arthroscopic right knee surgery.
Left-hander Ryan Sherriff was recalled from Triple-A Durham for his second stint this season with the Rays.
Choi has hit .304 with two homers, 11 RBIs and 11 walks since his season debut May 16.
Freddy Peralta’s no-hitter falls short
Freddy Peralta delivered another special performance on a special day.
Peralta celebrated his 25th birthday by carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning of the Milwaukee Brewers’ 5-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks . Peralta, Brad Boxberger and Trevor Richards combined on a one-hitter as the Brewers won for the seventh time in their last eight games.
Peralta acknowledged with a laugh that this was his best birthday yet, but it wasn’t his favorite performance of his promising young career.
Mike Marshall dead, age 78
Mike Marshall, who became the first relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award when he appeared in a major league season-record 106 games for the 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers, died Tuesday at his home in Zephyrhills, Florida, near Tampa. He was 78. Obituary, D5.