The Kansas City Royals placed right-hander Stephen Kolek on the 15-day injured list on Sunday after he strained his right flexor during a rehab start.

Kolek was injured on Saturday while pitching for Triple-A Omaha to get him ready to return to the major league squad as soon as this week after an extended absence on the family medical emergency list.

He was scheduled for four innings or 65 pitches but made it through only 51 pitches (30 strikes) over 2 2/3 innings against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs before he exited in the third inning with the Omaha Storm Chasers’ trainer.

Kolek allowed two runs on six hits with a hit batter, no walks and three strikeouts.

“He said he didn’t feel great playing catch, but then as he got on the mound, he felt better,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said Sunday. “The first couple of innings were pretty good. In the third inning, he felt more aggressive discomfort. They thought it was best to get him out of there.”

Kolek, 29, is scheduled to get imaging done on Monday.

He last pitched in a major league game on July 2, allowing three runs on four hits in two innings of a 5-2 home loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Kolek has been away from the team since before the birth of his daughter, Faye, who was born seven weeks premature on June 25, MLB.com reported. He has been in the hospital with his wife, Jessica, and their baby, leaving only for that July 2 start. The Royals placed him on the family emergency medical list three times and the paternity list twice as well as the restricted list on July 11, according to MLB.com.

With his child making progress, Kolek planned to return to the Royals, including Saturday’s rehab start. Major League Baseball gave the Royals permission for Kolek to have a rehab assignment, which is not the norm for players on the restricted list.

Kolek is 4-3 with one shutout, a 4.50 ERA, 12 walks and 34 strikeouts in 54 innings over 10 starts this season.

He is a career 12-10 with a 4.13 ERA, 55 walks and 150 strikeouts in 213 1/3 innings over 71 games (29 starts) for the San Diego Padres (2024-25) and Royals (2025-present). The Padres traded Kolek and right-hander Ryan Bergert to the Royals for catcher Freddy Fermin on July 31, 2025.

–Field Level Media

The Dallas Wings will be chasing their seventh straight win when they host the slumping New York Liberty on Monday in Arlington, Texas, but they likely will be without the services of star guard Paige Bueckers.

Bueckers spent the final minutes of Sunday’s 90-82 home win over the Los Angeles Spark in the locker room after suffering an apparent head injury late in the fourth quarter.

With 3:33 remaining in the game, Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike was dribbling down the court, got tripped up by Dallas rookie Azzi Fudd and lost her balance. She tumbled into the legs of Bueckers and the second-year player fell straight back, landing on her back.

The back of Bueckers’ head appeared to hit the floor when she fell and the 24-year-old immediately grabbed her head.

Bueckers walked off the court on her own but with members of the Wings’ staff flanking her as she continued to hold her head and had a slight limp.

Bueckers had amassed a game-high 25 points before being forced from the game. Arike Ogunbowale scored six of her 20 points in the victory over the final 2:36 while Jessica Shepard totaled 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Fudd also scored 11 points in win.

“We worked hard for this win, and when Paige went down, it was all about the rest of us stepping up,” Ogunbowale said after the victory over Los Angeles.

Wings coach Jose Fernandez had no detailed update on Bueckers’ status in his postgame press conference but said Bueckers was in good spirits. Her availability for Monday’s game is yet to be determined.

“She’s upset at Azzi because she said Azzi tripped her (Ogwumike) and took away P’s charge,” Fernandez said lightheartedly.

Monday’s game was rescheduled from July 16 because of travel difficulties for the Liberty, creating a home back-to-back for Dallas.

The Wings (17-8) enter Monday’s game carrying their longest winning streak in 11 years. Dallas has captured six straight games for the first time since the 2015 campaign when the franchise was in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In that season, the Wings (then known as the Shock) won eight straight outings early in the year and then six in a row before bowing out against the Phoenix Mercury in the Western Conference semifinals.

The Liberty (13-12) limp into Arlington on the heels of a 108-88 loss in Indianapolis to the Fever on Saturday. Breanna Stewart led the way with 26 points and eight boards for New York, while Jonquel Jones netted 13 points and Marine Johannes and Sabrina Ionescu each added 12.

Johannes suffered a left ankle injury in the game and is questionable to compete on Monday.

The Liberty jumped out to an 11-point, first-quarter lead and were up by four at halftime before succumbing in the second half. New York’s 17 turnovers which led to 30 Fever points had plenty to do with the loss.

“We don’t like where we’re at right now, but (here) we are,” Stewart said after the loss. “(We’re) playing with that, realizing that we’re in it. We’re in the trenches, and we can either keep sinking or we can dig ourselves out.”

New York has dropped six of its past seven games and eight of its last 10. The Liberty have trailed by at least 13 points at some juncture in six of their past eight games and has lost all six of those contests.

“We’re really mature about it,” Ionescu said. “It really hasn’t been too frustrating. Every team goes through it. During the process, kind of when you’re in it, it sucks, but I think everyone has a really good mindset of knowing it’ll pay off for us in the long run.”

Key New York players Satou Sabally (concussion protocol) and Leonie Fiebich (foot) have been ruled out for the game.

It is the teams’ third and final meeting of the season. Dallas took the first two matchups, both in Brooklyn, including an 88-77 decision on July 7 that started the Liberty’s current four-game losing streak.

–Field Level Media

The Minnesota Twins and Guardians will look to play a better brand of baseball when they open their four-game series on Monday in Cleveland.

The Twins were taken to task during the rubber match of their three-game series against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, dropping a 10-1 decision.

“This game got out of hand early and stayed out of hand, and we weren’t able to do anything,” Minnesota manager Derek Shelton said. “So we just flush it and move on to the next series.”

Luke Keaschall, who was playing his eighth major-league game in center field, misplayed a ball, resulting in three runs crossing the plate. That turned a three-run deficit into a six-run hole.

“I wanted to catch it,” Keaschall said, per the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I got a good read on it, but then it started to die a little bit. I tried to let up, got caught in between and just tried to get my body in front of it. It bounced to my left and got by me.”

Keaschall and Minnesota will look to atone on Monday against Cleveland. The Twins have won four of the six meetings between the teams this season.

Like Minnesota, Cleveland committed many costly miscues in its 7-1 setback to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. Gabriel Arias and Patrick Bailey miscommunicated on a pickoff attempt, and the former also failed to retag second base, which resulted in one of five outs on the bases for Cleveland.

“We’re a young team and we’re going to make mistakes,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’ve talked about it the whole year. That’s where our coaches and I need to step up and teach more. We need to get our players better.”

Steven Kwan had two singles, giving him 11 hits during his six-game hitting streak. He is just 3-for-18 in six games this season against Minnesota

The series opener features a battle of right-handers, as All-Star Joe Ryan (6-5, 2.85 ERA) of the Twins will square off against Tanner Bibee (3-9, 3.90) of the Guardians.

Ryan struck out a pair of batters during one scoreless inning of work in the All-Star Game on Tuesday.

He also was dominant leading into that game, going 2-2 with a 1.93 ERA after allowing six earned runs with 36 strikeouts over his previous five outings (28 innings).

Ryan, 30, allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts in six innings in his one appearance against Cleveland this season. He received a no-decision in that contest on May 9, however he is 3-5 with a 2.83 ERA in 13 career appearances (12 starts) versus the Guardians.

Bibee enjoyed a rare positive moment in his last outing, yielding one run on five hits in 6 2/3 innings of a 4-1 victory over the Miami Marlins on July 11. That victory was his first in nearly one month.

He pitched well in his lone appearance against both Ryan and Minnesota this season. He permitted one run on one hit and struck out nine in six innings of a no-decision.

Bibee, 27, is 2-0 with a 2.83 ERA in 10 career appearances (all starts) versus the Twins.

–Field Level Media