CARDINALS
Oquendo out for season
ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo will undergo right knee replacement surgery next month and won't return to the team this season.
Oquendo, 52, was in town Saturday to have the knee examined. He said the recovery time for the surgery is about six months.
Oquendo has been the third base coach for 16 seasons. He was placed on medical leave just before the season opener because of problems with the knee.
Oquendo is selling his house in St. Louis and moving to Florida, near where the team trains in Jupiter.
Chris Maloney is now coaching third base, with Bill Mueller moving to first, Maloney's old spot.
Oquendo had a 17-year career in the majors that included 10 seasons with St. Louis.
ASTROS
Giles' role to change
Houston Manager A.J. Hinch plans to change how he uses pitcher Ken Giles.
The reliever has pitched almost exclusively in the eighth-inning setup role, but the Astros want to shake things up for Giles, who has a 9.00 ERA in 11 appearances.
"I met with Ken and told him I am easing the burden of the eighth inning off him," Hinch said Saturday. "I just gave him a heads-up he may not get the eighth to give him a physical, mental break.
"It's not an announcement as much as if it comes to the eighth and you don't see Giles, you'll know."
RED SOX-YANKEES
A-Rod, Big Papi deliver
BOSTON -- Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz made a pair of young fans very happy at Fenway Park on Friday night.
Ortiz, who hit what proved to be the game-winning home run against the Yankees, earlier in the day had promised to hit a home run for a sick child in a video message posted on former Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar's Twitter account.
Then he did.
That promise came hours before Rodriguez told a young fan who recently lost his father that he would give him his bat if he hit a home run.
Then he did.
A-Rod hit a long shot off a light tower over the Green Monster in the second inning of the Yankees' 4-2 loss to the Red Sox.
As he crossed home plate, Rodriguez motioned to the bat boy to give the home run bat to 8-year-old Red Sox fan David Moss, who was seated next to the Yankees' dugout and chatted with A-Rod while he was in the on-deck circle.
Rodriguez said on Saturday that he was unaware that Moss had lost his father, Andy, to cancer last September and was simply fulfilling a promise to the young fan, who originally asked him for a souvenir. Rodriguez told him he would be happy to hand over his bat if he hit a home run.
Moss and his mother and sister traveled to Boston from Mesa, Ariz., to attend the game on his eighth birthday. Before the exchange with A-Rod, the family met Ortiz.
Ortiz had a busy pregame. He and Millar appeared in a video message for 5-year-old Maverick Schutte, a Red Sox fan from Wyoming who was born with a congenital heart defect, according to ESPN.com.
"You take care, buddy, and I'm going to hit a home run for you tonight. Remember that," said Ortiz, who is in his final season.
After Ortiz's two-run home run off Dellin Betances in the eighth inning led the Red Sox to victory, Millar posted a video from Schutte thanking Ortiz.
"Millar was crying when he was showing me the video that Maverick sent him back," Ortiz said, according to ESPN.com. "It was very touching. And I start thinking about it right after, when I got home. That was when I really was like, 'Wow, I can't believe this really happened.'
"And Millar told me that his parents haven't seen him that happy in a long time. He has been very sick. I always say there's something special out there. I'm a huge believer in that."
-- Democrat-GazettePress Services
Sports on 05/01/2016