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Major League Baseball roundup

[July 07, 2017] July 6 (The Sports Xchange) - Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner and Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas won the fan balloting for the final roster spots for Tuesday's All-Star Game in Miami, Major League Baseball announced Thursday.

Turner drew a record 20.8 million votes to earn a spot on the National League All-Star team. The previous record was the 19.7 million Atlanta's Freddie Freeman received in 2013.

Moustakas garnered 15.6 million votes to win the American League balloting. It is the second time in the past three seasons that Moustakas won the AL fan vote.

Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts was second behind Moustakas. In the NL, Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant finished second.

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New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius hit the ground running after waking up to find out he was third out of five in the American League All-Star voting that ended later in the day.

Gregorius, seeking more votes from his home base in New York, went to the subway and offered customers free rides if they'd support his cause in the Final Vote.

It didn't help.

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Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw will take his normal turn in the rotation for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Royals, thereby making him ineligible to pitch in Tuesday's All-Star Game.

Pitchers who start their team's final game before the All-Star break aren't eligible to compete in the Midsummer Classic.

A replacement hasn't been named for Kershaw (13-2).

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Angel Hernandez, who sued Major League Baseball this week alleging race discrimination, was named as one of the umpires for the upcoming All-Star Game in Miami.

Hernandez will be a first-base umpire on a crew headed by Joe West, who was behind the plate for the 2005 All-Star Game.

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A big-league umpire since 1993, Hernandez, who was born in Cuba, alleges in his lawsuit that MLB chief baseball officer Joe Torre purposely kept him from working World Series games in the last decade and from being promoted to a crew chief.

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San Francisco Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto was scratched from his scheduled start against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday afternoon because of an inner ear infection.

Right-hander Chris Stratton made his first major league start in place of Cueto and he was the loser in the Tigers' 6-2 victory.

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Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber's stay at Triple-A Iowa is over with manager Joe Maddon convinced a hitting slump for the left-handed power hitter is also coming to an end. Schwarber rejoined the team and was installed in the starting lineup for the series finale with the Milwaukee Brewers, batting fifth and playing left field.

Schwarber went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

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Armed with a complete no-trade clause and personal postseason history strong enough to draw a crowd, Tigers ace Justin Verlander feels at ease amidst swirling trade speculation.

"I'm worried about pitching, I'm worried about recovery, I'm worried about what I have to do to be successful," Verlander said as multiple reports linked the Tigers and Cubs on trade talk centered around the veteran right-hander. "And the good news is my body and arm feel fantastic -- best it has in a long time."

At 34, Verlander is owed $56 million for the next two seasons and has an automatic vesting option for 2020 at $22 million should he finish in the top five in Cy Young Award voting.

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