Angels: Three-time American League MVP Mike Trout will have surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, sidelining the Angels star indefinitely. The Angels believe Trout will be able to return this season, general manager Perry Minasian said while announcing the injury Tuesday. Trout is batting .220 with a major league-leading 10 homers, 14 RBIs and six stolen bases this year, but he will be sidelined by a major injury for the fourth consecutive season. Trout had an MRI after playing in the Angels’ 6-5 victory over the Phillies on Monday. The outfielder fought back tears while describing the pain that gradually crept up on him after the game. “It’s crazy, because I look back and I don’t even know when I did it,” Trout said. “I was kind of telling myself, ‘Maybe I just banged it on something and I didn’t realize it.’ And then after the game, getting treatment on it, it was really sore. The plan was just to see how I felt in the morning. If I woke up and it was sore, just get it looked at. That was the plan. Last night was tough for me to sleep. It was just aching all night.” Trout’s latest injury is another major blow to the Angels, who ahead of Tuesday’s game were off to an 11-18 start in their first season since Shohei Ohtani’s free agent departure. The Angels also lost Anthony Rendon indefinitely to a torn hamstring earlier this month. The $245 million third baseman also has been sidelined for major portions of the past four consecutive seasons by an array of injuries. Trout and Rendon are by far the Angels’ two highest-paid players, each making more than $37 million this season. The 32-year-old Trout won his three MVP awards during a dominant decade of play in the 2010s, but the formerly durable outfielder has been bedeviled by injuries since 2021. He missed all but 36 games of the 2021 season with a strained calf, and he missed several weeks of the 2022 season with a back injury. Trout then broke a bone in his hand last season, missing all but one game after July 3. Trout said he has never had health problems with his knees.

Rangers: Max Scherzer was scratched from his second scheduled rehab start because of thumb soreness. The 39-year-old three-time Cy Young Award winner is rehabbing from surgery in mid-December to repair a herniated disk in his lower back and says that isn’t giving him any issues. The thumb soreness is similar to what he experienced last year before missing the end of the regular season and start of the playoffs for the World Series champion Rangers.

Tigers: RHP Jack Flaherty tied an AL record with seven straight strikeouts to open a game against the Cardinals and finished with a career-high 14 in 6 2/3 innings before the visiting Cards rallied in the ninth for a 2-1 win in the first game of a doubleheader. The Tigers’ Flaherty matched the record shared by Joe Cowley of the 1986 White Sox, Carlos Rodón of the 2016 White Sox, the Rays’ Blake Snell in 2018 and Mariners’ Luis Castillo two years ago. Marlins RHP Pablo López set the major league record by striking out the first nine batters of a game in 2021.