BOSTON (AP) — Rich Hill, the only player to appear in a major league game in each of the last 20 seasons, was designated for assignment by the Boston Red Sox on Friday.
The 44-year-old left-hander four outs for Boston on Aug. 29 in a 2-0 loss to Toronto in his first appearance of the season. He pitched in four games for the Red Sox, allowing two runs in 3 2/3 innings.
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Boston Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill (44) reacts after walking in a run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Boston Red Sox's Rich Hill delivers a pitch to a Toronto Blue Jays batter in the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Boston Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill steps off the mound after pitching in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Boston Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill throws against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora (13) takes the ball from pitcher Rich Hill against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Hill has a 4.01 ERA in 386 MLB games in a career that started in 2002, when he was selected in the fourth round of the first year player draft by the Chicago Cubs.
Boston recalled 24-year-old right-handed pitcher Luis Guerrero to take Hill's roster spot.
“Tough one,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of the club’s decision on Hill. “He’s going to be a Red Sox for life, but I think it’s smart for us to start getting guys here who can contribute for the future."
In his career, Hill pitched for 13 teams, posting a 90-74 record with 1,428 strikeouts over 1,409 innings.
Hill and the late Tim Wakefield are the only pitchers to appear in a game for the Red Sox at 44 or older. Wakefield was 45.
Born in Boston, Hill made his big-league debut with the Cubs in 2005.
Hill appropriately wore No. 44 in his latest stint with the Red Sox, the fourth of his career. They signed him to a minor league deal on Aug. 16.
He also pitched for Pittsburgh, San Diego, Baltimore, Cleveland, Oakland, Tampa Bay, the Angels, Yankees, Dodgers, Twins and Mets.
He’s one short of Edwin Jackson’s record of playing for the most MLB clubs.
Boston enters Friday night's game against the Chicago White Sox with a five-game losing streak and is 5 1/2 games behind the race for the third, and final, wild-card spot in the American League. The Red Sox are also a half game behind Detroit and Seattle, which both trail Kansas City by 5 games for the AL's last playoff spot.
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Boston Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill (44) reacts after walking in a run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Boston Red Sox's Rich Hill delivers a pitch to a Toronto Blue Jays batter in the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Boston Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill steps off the mound after pitching in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Boston Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill throws against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora (13) takes the ball from pitcher Rich Hill against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump met Wednesday with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the first such encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.
The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump sitting with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, marks a major turn of events for a Syria still adjusting to life after the over 50-year, iron-gripped rule of the Assad family. People across Syria cheered in the streets and shot off fireworks Tuesday night to celebrate, hopeful their nation locked out of credit cards and global finance might rejoin the world's economy when they need investment the most.
It’s also remarkable given al-Sharaa, under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has ties to al-Qaida and joined insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. It follows Trump, long a critic of America's once-called “forever wars” in the Mideast after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, offered an anti-interventionist speech before the Saudi public as well.
Trump on Tuesday announced the meeting, saying the U.S. also would move to lift economic sanctions on Syria as well. Syria even before its ruinous civil war that began in 2011 struggled under a tightly controlled socialist economy and under sanctions by the U.S. as being a state-sponsor of terror since 1979.
The meeting took place behind closed doors and reporters were not permitted to witness the engagement. The White House did not immediately say who else was in the meeting or provide any other details on the conversation.
Trump said he was looking to give Syria, which is emerging from more than a decade of brutal civil war “a chance at peace” under al-Sharaa
Al-Sharaa was named interim president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, that stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family.
The United States has been weighing how to handle al-Sharaa since he took power in December.
Many Gulf Arab leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran’s return to influence in Syria, where it had helped prop up Assad’s government during a decadelong civil war.
But longtime U.S. ally Israel has been deeply skeptical of al-Sharaa’s extremist past and cautioned against swift recognition of the new government. However, Trump cited the intervention of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as key to his decision.
The White House earlier signaled that the Trump and al-Sharaa engagement, on the sidelines of a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Riyadh convened as part of Trump’s four-day visit to the region, would be brief, with the administration saying the U.S. president had “agreed to say hello” to the Syrian president on Wednesday.
Al-Sharaa is the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.
Syrians cheered the announcement by Trump that the U.S. will move to lift sanctions on the beleaguered Middle Eastern nation.
The state-run SANA news agency published video and photographs of Syrians cheering in Umayyad Square, the largest in the country’s capital, Damascus. Others honked their car horns or waved the new Syrian flag in celebration.
People whistled and cheered the news as fireworks lit the night sky.
A statement from Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued Tuesday night called the announcement “a pivotal turning point for the Syrian people as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war.”
The statement also was careful to describe the sanctions as coming “in response to the war crimes committed by the Assad regime against the Syrian people,” rather than the war-torn nation’s new interim government.
“The removal of these sanctions offers a vital opportunity for Syria to pursue stability, self-sufficiency and meaningful national reconstruction, led by and for the Syrian people,” the statement added.
Associated Press photographer Alex Brandon contributed to this report. Madhani reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Syrians wave Saudi and Syrian flags in celebration after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans during his visit to Saudi Arabia to ease sanctions on Syria and normalize relations with its new government, in Homs, Syria, late Tuesday, May 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Syrians celebrate after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans during his visit to Saudi Arabia to ease sanctions on Syria and normalize relations with its new government, in Homs, Syria, late Tuesday, May 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Father Serafeim, a Lebanese-Syrian, prepares coffee in the kitchen of Simonopetra, or the Simonos Petra Monastery, home of the all-male autonomous community Agion Oros, or Holy Mountain, on the peninsula of Mount Athos in northern Greece, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Syrians celebrate in Umayyad Square after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to ease sanctions on Syria and move toward normalizing relations with its new government to give the country 'a chance at peace,' in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Syrians celebrate after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to ease sanctions on Syria and move toward normalizing relations with its new government to give the country 'a chance at peace,' in Idlib, Syria, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A girl holds a Saudi flag in celebration after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans during his visit to Saudi Arabia to ease sanctions on Syria and normalize relations with its new government, in Homs, Syria, late Tuesday, May 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Syrians celebrate after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans during his visit to Saudi Arabia to ease sanctions on Syria and normalize relations with its new government, in Homs, Syria, late Tuesday, May 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
FILE - Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, looks on during a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
This combination of photos shows U.S. President Donald Trump, left, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 13, 2025 and Syria's President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Ankara, Turkey, on Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File) (AP Photo, File)
