NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees placed DJ LeMahieu on the 10-day injured list Monday because of a lingering hip issue and recalled top prosect Jasson Domínguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
LeMahieu was placed on the IL because of right hip impingement and manager Aaron Boone said the Yankees' struggling infielder may not return this season.
“It’s been something that’s been kind of lingering on him the last couple of weeks. He’s been getting treatment on it,” Boone said. “It’s kind of better some days, worse the others."
The 36-year-old LeMahieu, a two-time batting champion is hitting .204 with two homers and 26 RBIs in 67 games. He missed New York’s first 55 games because of a fracture in his right foot that healed slowly.
LeMahieu batted .243 with 15 homers and 44 RBIs in 136 games last season and is hitting .231 since winning his second batting title during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Boone said Domínguez is a welcome addition to the lineup and will play center field and bat sixth Monday as New York opens a three-game series against Kansas City at Yankee Stadium with a half-game lead on the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.
“I think you know my thoughts on him,” Boone said. “I’ve been a huge fan ever since I met him. Just love his makeup, his talent and he’s earned this opportunity.”
Domínguez was not initially called up when rosters expanded to 28 players on Sept. 1. Domínguez will also see time in left field, where he has played once with the Yankees and in 58 games in his minor league career.
Domínguez joins the Yankees three days after GM Brian Cashman said the team was sticking with Alex Verdugo in left. Verdugo is hitting .235 with 11 homers and 56 RBIs in 137 games this season and .302 (13 for 43) in his last 12 games.
Domínguez made his season debut and went 0 for 4 as New York’s 27th man against the Detroit Tigers in the Little League Classic last month. The 21-year-old batted .314 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs in 58 games across three minor league levels.
Signed for a $5.1 million bonus as a 16-year-old in 2019, Domínguez batted .258 with four homers and seven RBIs in eight games with the Yankees from Sept. 1-9, 2023, before tearing a ligament in his throwing elbow. He underwent surgery last September and then injured his oblique on a checked swing on June 15.
Since returning from the oblique injury July 26, Domínguez batted .309 with seven homers and 25 RBIs in 44 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
“Like I said on Sept. 1 when we didn’t initially recall Jasson, he’s in the conversation every single day,” Boone said. “I think as much as anything, it’s just continuing to build the momentum he’s built here over the last few weeks, where we feel like, especially the last couple of weeks, really starting to be in the peak of the season and play at a high level. So he’s been knocking on that door since he came back and now seemed like the time to bring him.”
In other moves by the Yankees, Jon Berti was activated from the injured list after the utilityman missed 90 games with a left calf strain. Acquired in a spring training trade with the Miami Marlins, Berti hit .273 with one homer and six RBIs in 17 games before collapsing in pain a few steps out of the batter’s box in San Diego on May 24.
The Yankees also designated reliever Anthony Misiewicz for assignment. The lefty appeared in one game for the New York this season and was 3-2 with a 3.33 ERA in 44 appearances for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
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FILE - New York Yankees' DJ LeMahieu in action during a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
DEER PARK, Texas (AP) — A towering flame gradually subsided Tuesday morning in the aftermath of a massive pipeline explosion after a vehicle drove through a fence and struck an above-ground valve, officials said.
Deer Park officials said police and local FBI agents initiated investigations and found no preliminary reports that would suggest a coordinated or “terrorist” attack and that “this appears to be an isolated incident.”
The investigation included efforts to learn more about the driver of a vehicle that was incinerated by the pipeline explosion as flames scorched the ground across a wide radius, severed adjacent power transmission lines and ignited homes at a distance. Police did not provide any information about the person's condition.
An evacuation area included nearly 1,000 homes and initial shelter orders included schools.
Operators shut off the flow of natural gas liquids in the pipeline, but so much remained in the miles of tubing that firefighters could do nothing but watch and hose down adjacent homes.
Deer Park Mayor Jerry Mouton Jr. described intense heat from a fire that endured for more than 12 hours as ladder trucks showered houses from above.
"A lot of the house structures that are adjacent to that are still catching on fire even though we’re putting a lot of water on them,” Mouton said at an afternoon news conference. A spewing flame still lit up the sky at sunset Monday.
Firefighters initially were dispatched at 9:55 a.m., after an explosion at a valve station in Deer Park, adjacent to La Porte, rattled homes and businesses, including a Walmart. Deer Park officials said an SUV drove into the valve after going through a fence on the side of the Walmart parking lot.
At the news conference, officials said only one person, a firefighter, sustained a minor injury. Later, Deer Park spokesperson Kaitlyn Bluejacket said four people were injured. She didn’t provide details about the severity of the injuries.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement that 20 miles (32 kilometers) of pipeline between the two closed valves had to burn off before the fire would stop.
Anna Lewis, who was walking into the nearby Walmart when the explosion happened, said it sounded “like a bomb went off.” She said everyone inside was rushed to the back of the store and then taken across the street to a grocery store before being bussed to a community center.
“It scared me,” she said. “You really don’t know what to do when it’s happening.”
Geselle Melina Guerra said she and her boyfriend heard the explosion as they were having breakfast in their mobile home.
“All of a sudden we hear this loud bang and then I see something bright, like orange, coming from our back door that’s outside,” said Guerra, who lives within the evacuation area.
Guerra’s boyfriend, Jairo Sanchez, said they’re used to evacuations because they live close to other plants near the highway, but he hadn’t seen an explosion before in his 10 years living there.
“We just drove as far as we could because we didn’t know what was happening,” Sanchez said.
Houston, Texas’ largest city, is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries and plants and thousands of miles of pipelines. Explosions and fires are a familiar sight in the area, including some that have been deadly, raising recurring questions about the adequacy of industry efforts to protect the public and the environment.
Letting the fire burn out is better, from an environmental perspective, than trying to attack the flames with some kind of suppressing foam or liquid, said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, a petroleum engineering professor at the University of Houston.
“Otherwise it’s going to release a lot of volatile organics into the environment,” he said.
Still, there will undoubtedly be negative environmental consequences, including a release of soot, carbons and organic material, he said.
The pipeline’s owner, Dallas-based Energy Transfer, said air monitoring equipment was being set up near the plume of fire and smoke, which could be seen from at least 10 miles (16 kilometers) away at one point.
A statement from Harris County Pollution Control on Monday afternoon said no volatile organic compounds had been detected. The statement said particulate matter from the smoke was moderate and not an immediate risk to healthy people, although “sensitive populations may want to take precautions.” The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said it was also monitoring the air.
Natural gas liquids are used primarily in the manufacturing of plastics and basic and intermediate chemicals, Krishnamoorti said.
The fire burned through nearby power lines, and the website PowerOutage.us said several thousand customers were without power at one point in Harris County.
Krishnamoorti said the area’s extensive pipeline infrastructure will have to be closely inspected for damage beyond the explosion site, though the fire “won’t be a major disrupter of supply chains.”
The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates oil and gas in the state, said its safety inspectors were investigating.
Margaret Newman, who lives on the edge of the evacuation zone, said that when she heard the explosion she went out into her yard and could see the flame shooting above the trees. She lost electricity but has a generator to keep her home cool and planned to stay put.
This story has been updated to correct that the pipeline carries natural gas liquids, not liquified natural gas.
AP writers Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.
Residents watch the pipeline fire burning in La Porte, Texas, from South Meadow Drive and East Meadow Drive Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Deer Park, Texas. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Firefighters respond to a pipeline fire Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Deer Park, Texas. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A Clear Lake man watches the pipeline fire burning in La Porte, Texas, as he gives a ride to his friend who is a resident on E. Meadow Drive, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Deer Park, Texas. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Meadow Way Drive residents Maddy Graham, right, and Ashley Cordova are self evacuating with cat, Mitzi, as the pipeline fire burns in the background Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Deer Park, Texas. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A massive pipeline fire burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Police block off a highway as a large fire from a pipeline explosion burns near La Porte, Texas, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi)
A pipeline with a giant plume of fire burns Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying natural gas liquids burns in a massive fire near La Porte, Texas, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi)
A pipeline carrying natural gas liquids burns near La Porte, Texas, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Firefighters protect a neighborhood from a fire in a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Firefighters take a break from battling a fire at a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Firefighters battle a blaze from a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas that burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A firefighter directs a line of water around a fire on a pipeline carrying liquified natural gas near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline with a giant plume of fire burns Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline carrying liquified natural gas burns near Spencer Highway and Summerton on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in La Porte, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
A pipeline fire in La Porte, Texas, sparks grass fires and burns power poles on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, forcing people in the surrounding neighborhood to evacuate. (KTRK via AP)
Firefighters work on the scene of a pipeline fire in La Porte, Texas, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KTRK via AP)
A burned vehicle sits near a pipeline fire in La Porte, Texas, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (KTRK via AP)
A pipeline fire in La Porte, Texas, sparks grass fires and burns power poles on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, forcing people in the surrounding neighborhood to evacuate. (KTRK via AP)
