Banged-up Braves scrambling to put together a lineup after an unrelenting series of injuries

ATLANTA (AP) — In sports, there's a mantra that everyone falls back on when the inevitable injuries strike.

Next man up.

Only one problem for the Atlanta Braves.

“We're having a hard time finding the next man up,” manager Brian Snitker moaned.

An unrelenting series of breaks, tears and strains have left the six-time reigning NL champions scrambling to cobble together a lineup, putting their hopes of making it back to the postseason in serious jeopardy.

“We’re just going through a really weird time right now,” All-Star pitcher Reynaldo López said through a translator. “It just feels like as soon as someone comes off the IL, someone goes on it. Then someone else comes off and someone else goes on. It’s just really strange, but there’s nothing we can do.”

Slugging third baseman Austin Riley was the latest to go down, his year in jeopardy after getting plunked with a 97 mph fastball. He'll need six to eight weeks to recover from a fractured right hand, which knocks him out for at least the rest of the regular season.

He's hardly the first to suffer such a fate:

— NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. sustained a season-ending knee injury in late May, one year after becoming the first 40-70 player (40 homers, 70 stolen bases) in big league history.

— Ace pitcher Spencer Strider, coming off a franchise record for strikeouts in 2023, made it through only two starts this season before a torn elbow ligament ended his campaign.

— Second baseman Ozzie Albies has been sidelined since July 21 after breaking his left wrist while catching a throw on a stolen base. If his recovery goes well, he might be able to return for the final days of the regular season.

— Center fielder Michael Harris II missed two months with a left hamstring injury.

— Key reliever A.J. Minter is done for the season after undergoing surgery for a lingering hip ailment.

— Catcher Sean Murphy, an All Star in 2023, was sidelined for nearly two months after a swing on opening day left him with a strained left oblique muscle.

— Max Fried, another key member of the rotation, spent more than three weeks on the injured list with an inflamed nerve in his left forearm.

— Outfielder Jorge Soler, acquired ahead of the trade deadline to help counter all the injuries, hasn't started in the past week as he deals with a sore hamstring.

Now, add Riley to the list.

“The guys that we're losing, you can’t just go out and replace them," Snitker said. "You've gotta hope you can keep fighting and keep your head above water until you get them back. Unfortunately, a lot of these guys we're not getting back."

For the opener of a crucial three-game series against the first-place Philadelphia Phillies, the Braves sent out a lineup that included three players who've been cut by other teams this season.

Whit Merrifield, released by the Phillies in July, started at second base. Ramón Laureano, let go by the Cleveland Guardians in May, held down right field. Gio Urshela got the nod at third base, a mere two days after he was cast aside by the Detroit Tigers.

All three contributed to a 3-1 victory, undoubtedly using their rejections as motivation. Merrifield tripled, doubled and scored Atlanta's first run. Urshela walked with the bases-loaded in the eighth inning to drive in an insurance run. Laureano made two sliding catches in the ninth to seal the victory.

“You just play the best you can every night and a lot of times it’s not your night,” Merrifield aid. “But to contribute and play well against a team that told you that you weren’t good enough to play for them, it feels good. I'd be lying if I said it didn't.”

In a twist on the injury storyline, López threw five strong innings with 10 strikeouts Tuesday night in his first appearance in more than three weeks. He had been on the injured list with a strained right forearm.

The Braves will continue to need contributions from stalwarts such as López and unlikely sources such as Merrifield if they're to have any chance of making the playoffs, much less pulling off the improbable goal of chasing down the Phillies for a seventh straight division title.

“That would be unbelievable,” reliever Pierce Johnson said. “If we can pull that off, it’s going to be a true testament of the character in this room. Even if we don’t, everybody’s battled all year and I’m proud of each and every one of these guys for showing up every single day. But look, we’re going for it. There's no letting up.”

Thankfully for the Braves, designated hitter Marcell Ozuna has been the one constant in a season of such uncertainty.

He awoke Wednesday leading the league in both average (.309) and RBIs (94), while ranking second with 37 homers. He was two behind Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving Ozuna a very real shot at becoming the first NL player since Joe Medwick in 1937 to accomplish the hallowed Triple Crown.

“He’s been an absolute godsend to have on the team,” López said, before remembering what this team has been through.

The pitcher knocked several times on the table in front of him.

“I mean, knock on wood that he can stay healthy and continue to do what he does,” López said. “He’s just been so huge for us.”

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Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna reacts after a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Reynaldo López (40) works in the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

FILE - Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr., right, walks off the field with a trainer after being injured while running the bases during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Sunday, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

FILE - Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies holds his wrist after an injury in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen, File)

FILE - Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley (27) is checked out after taking a pitch to the hand during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun, File)

FILE - Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Martín Pérez (54) checks on Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr., who injured himself running the bases during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Sunday, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

The U.S. secretary of state said Thursday the United States will continue to press Israel to do more to spare humanitarian sites in the Gaza Strip, a day after an Israeli airstrike on a U.N. school complex sheltering displaced Palestinians killed 14 people there, including six U.N. staffers.

Meanwhile, Turkey announced its own probe into the death of a Turkish-American activist who was shot and killed by Israeli forces last week while protesting settlements in the occupied West Bank. And a Syrian pro-government media outlet and an opposition war monitor said an Israeli strike hit a car in southern Syria on Thursday, killing two people.

The deaths at the U.N. school on Wednesday came amid a spate of Israeli airstrikes across Gaza that killed at least 34 Palestinians, according to local officials. Among those killed were 19 women and children, they said.

The Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100. Around a third of them are believed to be dead.

Here's the latest:

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The World Health Organization says medical teams in Gaza are wrapping up the final day of an emergency polio vaccination campaign following the discovery of the territory’s first-known case of the illness in more than 25 years.

Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the U.N. health agency’s representative, told reporters in a news conference from Gaza that the health workers had reached more than an estimated 552,000 children under the age of 5. They used a new oral polio vaccine targeting the specific type of polio seen in Gaza, which is a mutated strain that originated in an older oral vaccine.

Peeperkorn said WHO and its partners have yet to do a final analysis of how many children were actually covered, but added that it was more than expected. On Wednesday, Palestinian health officials said more than half a million Gaza children have been vaccinated.

“We are quite confident that we reached an enormous amount of children in this short time,” Peeperkorn said, referring to the four-day vaccination campaign. He said authorities were aiming to cover more than 90% of children in this immunization round and in the second one, to be held next month.

WARSAW — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States will continue to urge Israel to do more to spare humanitarian sites in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli airstrike on a U.N. school complex sheltering displaced Palestinians killed six U.N. staffers.

When asked on Thursday at a news conference in the Polish capital about Israel’s bombing of the school complex in central Gaza the day before, Blinken told reporters that “we need to see humanitarian sites protected.”

“That’s something we continue to raise with Israel,” he said.

Wednesday's strike on the U.N.-supported al-Jaouni Preparatory Boys School in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, killed at least 14 people, including two children and a woman, hospital officials said. Among those killed were six staffers from the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, known as UNRWA, the main U.N. relief agency in Gaza.

UNRWA described the strike as the deadliest single incident for its staff members. Among those killed at the school, it said, were the manager of the shelter and others working to help the thousands of displaced people taking refuge there, including teachers.

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said at least 220 UNRWA staffers have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s military offensive began in response to Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants planning attacks from inside the school.

Blinken blamed Hamas for continuing to hide its fighters among civilians and said the bombing “underscores the urgency" of reaching a cease-fire in the embattled territory.

CAIRO — The World Health Organization says the United Arab Emirates has evacuated nearly 100 critically wounded and sick Palestinians from Gaza, including cancer patients, for medical treatment in the Gulf Arab state.

The U.N. health agency said on Thursday that a total of 252 Palestinians from Gaza, including 97 patients and their relatives, flew the previous day to Abu Dhabi in the UAE from the Ramon airport in Israel.

It was the biggest exit of Palestinian medical patients in Gaza through Israel since the war began.

WHO said that the patients, among them 45 children and 52 adults, were suffering from severe injuries or critical conditions such as brain tumors and amputations. It was the second such evacuation flight that the UAE has coordinated to provide advanced medical care to Palestinians.

With few exceptions, Israel has barred Gaza’s Palestinians from entering Israel throughout the war.

Gaza has been completely sealed off since May, when Israeli forces captured the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, including the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the coastal strip, leading to its closure.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli body that accredits journalists said on Thursday that it will revoke the press cards of Al-Jazeera reporters working in the country.

The move comes after Israel shut down the Qatar-based broadcaster’s local operations in May. Authorities already prevent Al-Jazeera broadcasts and block its websites.

Israel accuses Al-Jazeera of incitement and threatening national security over its coverage of the war in Gaza.

Nitzan Chen, the director of the Government Press Office, said “the use of GPO cards in the course of the journalists’ work could in itself jeopardize state security at this time of military emergency.”

Al-Jazeera denies the allegations and has accused Israel of trying to silence its coverage.

With several correspondents reporting from inside Gaza, the channel has provided round-the-clock coverage of the war since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that ignited it. Its coverage has focused on civilian casualties in Gaza, and it often airs Hamas videos and statements in their entirety.

Israeli strikes have killed four Al-Jazeera reporters since the start of the war. The government office said the revocation of the press cards would be subject to a hearing. It will apply to Al-Jazeera journalists and broadcasters but not producers or photographers. Turkey launches its own probe into the killing of Turkish-American activist in the West Bank

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s justice minister says his country is investigating the death of a Turkish-American activist shot and killed by Israeli forces last week while protesting settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The 26-year-old activist from Seattle was taking part in a demonstration against settlements in the Palestinian territory when she was fatally shot last Friday. Israel is investigating the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi and its military later said she was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by soldiers.

Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Thursday that the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office was leading the Turkish probe. He also called on U.N. agencies, including the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, to investigate.

Tunc said Turkey would present its findings to a U.N. court overseeing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa over the war in Gaza.

“We will take every judicial step for our martyred daughter, Aysenur,” Tunc said.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Eygi’s body was likely to be brought to Turkey on Friday. Her burial is scheduled to take place in the Aegean coastal town of Didim, in western Turkey, in line with her family’s wishes.

BEIRUT — A Syrian pro-government radio and a war-monitoring group say an Israeli strike hit a car in southern Syria, killing two people. The Sham FM didn’t give further details on the Thursday morning strike on the village of Khan Arnabeh, near Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, also reported that two people were killed in the airstrike, without giving further details.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has carried out such airstrikes over the past months on the edge of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel during the 1967 Mideast war and annexed in 1981. Israel says it is targeting Iran-linked militants.

Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, where thousands of Iran-backed fighters are deployed. Syria is a key route for Iran to send weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.

People inspect the destruction following an Israeli forces raid in Tulkarem, West Bank, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

An Israeli soldier aims her rifle during an army raid in Tubas, West Bank, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

An Israeli tank overlooks the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Palestinian flags are seen during a vigil on Alki Beach for Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, who was killed recently in the West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Ezgi is spelled in candles on the sand during a vigil on Alki Beach for Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, who was killed recently in the West Bank, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)