Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras was removed from Friday’s game in the third inning against the Dodgers in Los Angeles after he was hit in the helmet by a 95.4 mph fastball.

After Contreras was nearly hit by right-hander Will Klein on the first pitch of the at-bat, he was hit on a 1-1 pitch near his left ear. After a visit from a team trainer, Contreras took first base and played out the top of the third inning.

In the bottom of the third, Nick Sogard moved from second base to first base, while Anthony Seigler took over at second and assumed the No. 5 spot in the batting order in place of Contreras.

Contreras entered Friday’s game batting .289 with a .944 OPS, 23 home runs and 67 RBIs. In his first season in Boston, he was named an All-Star for the fourth time in his career.

–Field Level Media

The lawyers of Terry Rozier, in an effort to have two of the four federal charges against the NBA veteran thrown out, filed a motion Friday that a text message proves that Rozier was not involved in a sports gambling scheme.

Attorney David Markus wrote that Deniro Laster, a co-defendant and a friend of Rozier, sent a text on March 29, 2023, to a person to not tell Rozier of the bet made on him six days prior, while Rozier was with the Charlotte Hornets.

Rozier’s lawyers said he did not know anyone was betting on his statistics during that game and never agreed to change his play on the court to appease sports gamblers.

“Don’t tell chum ’bout the bet,” Laster said in the message, referring to Rozier by what his lawyers say is his nickname.

“This should end the case,” lawyers for Rozier wrote in the legal filing. “One does not hide a bet from the person who supposedly sold it.”

Federal prosecutors responded with a motion for the judge to deny Rozier’s request, writing that they have “developed evidence from multiple sources that this text chain does not relate to sports gambling.”

Markus and Anita Margot Moss, Rozier’s other attorney, are asking the charges of sports bribery and honest services fraud be dismissed from the case brought out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Markus and Moss also requested that the case be moved to the Southern District of Florida.

“Terry Rozier is innocent,” the lawyers for Rozier wrote in a motion to dismiss the case filed Friday. “He is a basketball player, not a gambler. He never bet on anything, never agreed to underperform, never did underperform, and did not know that anyone was wagering on his statistics in the Charlotte Hornets’ March 23, 2023, game.”

In December, Rozier asked the judge to throw out the other two counts — wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering — but the judge has not sent a decision.

According to federal prosecutors, Rozier agreed to accept $100,000 to remove himself from that March 2023 game with the Hornets so a group of gamblers would successfully wager on his prop bets. He failed to reach his season averages in points, assists and 3-pointers but eclipsed the over/under line on rebounds.

Rozier, one of six people originally charged, is set for a trial Feb. 8 along with former NBA player Damon Jones and Shane Hennen. Allegedly one of the gamblers involved in the probe, Hennen pleaded guilty earlier this week in a case that claimed he was involved in a rigged poker game scheme that implicated 30 others, including Hall of Famer and former Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups.

Rozier, 32, was arrested and charged in October before prosecutors added sports bribery and honest services wire fraud conspiracy counts to the case in May. Rozier pleaded not guilty and denied the charges through his attorneys.

–Field Level Media

Tomoyuki Sugano pitched strongly into the seventh inning, Kyle Karros had two hits in his return and the Colorado Rockies beat the Kansas City Royals 3-1 in Denver on Friday night.

Sugano, who won his seventh straight decision, got two outs in the seventh before giving way to Antonio Senzatela. Sugano (11-4) allowed one run on five hits, struck out two and walked none in 6 2/3 innings.

Jordan Romano picked up his ninth save for Colorado, which snapped a four-game skid. The victory was the Rockies’ 43rd of the season, matching last year’s total in just 110 games.

Carter Jensen homered and Salvador Perez had two hits for Kansas City, which has lost three of its last four games.

The game’s first pitch was delayed one hour as a strong storm blew through downtown Denver, dumping heavy rain and hail on Coors Field.

Colorado grabbed the lead against starter Michael Wacha in the first inning. With one out, Mickey Moniak doubled to the right field corner. After Wacha fanned Hunter Goodman, TJ Rumfield singled to make it 1-0.

After Karros singled, Wacha retired the next eight batters — including striking out the side in the third — but the Rockies padded their lead in the fourth.

Karros, who missed two games with left biceps inflammation, singled with one out, moved to second on Tyler Freeman’s groundout and scored when second baseman Michael Massey threw wildly to first on Troy Johnston’s grounder. Brenton Doyle, activated from the injured list before the game, doubled in his first appearance since May 19 to give Colorado a 3-0 lead.

Wacha (5-8) didn’t give up a hit the rest of his outing and allowed just one baserunner to reach via a Josh Rojas error. Wacha gave up three runs (one earned), struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter in six innings.

Sugano was in control through five innings, allowing just two hits, and got the first two outs in the sixth before Jensen hit his 15th home run of the season to get Kansas City on the board.

–Field Level Media