Major League Baseball roundup

[October 09, 2015]  Oct 8 (The Sports Xchange) - Vin Scully, the Hall of Fame broadcaster and longtime voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, will miss the playoffs after undergoing a medical procedure on Thursday.

The Dodgers said Scully was resting on the advice of his doctors, but the team didn't indicate the nature of the problem.

The 87-year-old Scully missed the Dodgers' final regular-season series because of a cold and was absent during a road trip to San Francisco earlier last week.

Scully, who has spent a record 66 yards broadcasting Dodgers games, said earlier this year that he anticipates 2016 will be his last season in the booth.

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Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson was removed for a pinch hitter in the fifth inning of the American League Division Series opener against the Texas Rangers on Thursday due to a possible head injury.

The club said Donaldson passed all concussion tests and will be evaluated again in the morning.

Donaldson was shaken up when he slid hard into second base to break up a potential double play in the fourth inning. The Blue Jays said that Donaldson was removed as a precaution after taking a knee to his head on the play from Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor, who also was limping after the play.

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Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre left the same game after experiencing lower back stiffness.

The club said Beltre will undergo an MRI exam to determine the severity.

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Injured St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was included on the roster for the National League Division Series against the Chicago Cubs that begins Friday night in St. Louis.

The All-Star will wear a splint to protect his left thumb during the best-of-five series between the longtime rivals. He suffered strained ligaments while making a tag on Sept. 20.

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Houston Astros center fielder Carlos Gomez is not in the lineup for Game 1 of the American League Division Series as he continues to battle a strained left intercostal muscle.

Gomez suffered the injury three weeks ago and it flared up in Tuesday wild-card victory over the New York Yankees.

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Pittsburgh utilityman Sean Rodriguez apologized for his outburst during the Pirates' 4-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs in the National League wild-card game.

Rodriguez was ejected in the seventh inning of Wednesday night's game after a scuffle between the teams that started when Pirates reliever Tony Watson hit Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta with a pitch.

It appeared that Rodriguez came out of the dugout and threw a punch during the scrum. He later accused Cubs catcher David Ross of grabbing him by the neck.

When order was restored and Rodriguez reached the dugout, he pounded a water cooler with punches that caused it to topple over.

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The Cubs-Pirates game on Wednesday was the most watched wild-card game in the United States since its advent in 2012 and garnered the largest audience for a major league game on cable television since 2011.

According to Turner Sports, the National League matchup, broadcast on TBS, reached a peak of 9.7 million viewers with an average audience of 8.3 million.

(Editing by Andrew Both)

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