As a lengthy legal battle ends, a Palestinian family braces for eviction from Jerusalem home

• June 28, 2023

By ISABEL DEBRE

JERUSALEM — Few places in Jerusalem speak of the larger conflict being waged over the city more than the apartment of 68-year-old Nora Ghaith-Sub Laban.

As the last remaining Palestinians in a building filled with Israeli settlers, the Ghaith-Sub Labans have battled Israeli attempts to evict them from their Old City home for over 45 years.

That labyrinthine legal battle ended earlier this year, when the Israeli Supreme Court struck down the family’s final motion for an appeal. Now, Israeli authorities have ordered the eviction of Nora and her husband Mustafa to take place by July 13. That includes one of the biggest holidays of the Islamic calendar, Eid al-Adha, which began Tuesday night.

“I can’t sleep, I can’t eat,” Nora said from the apartment where she was born in 1955. From the outside, with its rough-hewed stones flattered by brilliant sunlight and its windows overlooking the golden Dome of the Rock, the 200-year-old home in the heart of the Muslim Quarter is a Jerusalem postcard. Inside, the paint has chipped and walls have peeled due to court orders barring the family from doing repairs.

In what she described as a campaign to make life so unbearable that she would simply leave, Nora said her Jewish neighbors spit and hurl stones and bottles at her. Israeli police turn up at her door, asking for IDs and demanding to know everyone who has passed in and out of her home.

“This is psychological war,” she said.

The Israeli police said the check-ins were “not meant to intimidate or harass but to gather the necessary information” ahead of the eviction.

The Ghaith-Sub Laban case is not a dispute over a single property, advocates say, but part of a wider effort by Israeli settlers, with government backing, to cement Jewish control over the contested city, especially the Old City, home to Jerusalem’s most important holy sites.

A similar dispute that could lead to evictions of Palestinian families in the nearby neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah stirred tensions that built up to a 2021 war between Israel and the Hamas militant group in Gaza that killed over 250 people.

The family’s struggle has sparked numerous protest rallies by Israeli left-wing activists, some of which have spiraled into scuffles with Israeli police who have arrested those waving Palestinian national flags.

“It’s more than just, ‘Oh, I have this problem with my neighbor downstairs.’ You are talking about a political and national conflict,” said Yonatan Mizrahi, the settlement watch director at Peace Now, an Israeli advocacy group that opposes settlements. “What happens in the Old City does not stay in the Old City.”

Captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed in a move not internationally recognized, east Jerusalem has long been a crucible in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Today, more than 220,000 Jews live in east Jerusalem, largely in built-up settlements that Israel considers neighborhoods of its capital. Most of east Jerusalem’s 350,000 Palestinian residents are crammed into overcrowded neighborhoods where there is little room to build.

Across the city’s eastern half, settler organizations and Jewish trusts are pursuing court battles against Palestinian families to clear the way for settlers.

An Israeli law passed after the annexation of east Jerusalem allows Jews to reclaim properties that were Jewish before the formation of the Israeli state in 1948. Jordan controlled the area between 1948 and the 1967 war.

Nearly 1,000 Palestinians, including 424 children, currently face eviction in east Jerusalem, the United Nations humanitarian office said.

During British rule over historic Palestine, before the war over Israel’s creation, the Ghaith-Sub Laban apartment was owned by a trust for Kollel Galicia, a group that collected funds in Eastern Europe for Jewish families in Jerusalem. Its legal representative, Eli Attal, declined to comment on the case, sending only an emoji with its mouth taped shut.

Arieh King, a settler leader and deputy mayor of Jerusalem, described the Ghaith-Sub Laban family as “squatters” and the case as a straightforward real estate dispute.

“It’s Jewish property and they want it back,” he said. “(The Ghaith-Sub Labans) don’t have any right to this property.”

There is no equivalent right in Israel for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the war surrounding Israel’s establishment to return to lost properties.

Nora’s case reflects the city’s volatile history. Hailing from the southern Palestinian city of Hebron, her parents moved to west Jerusalem in 1945, then to the Old City when the capital was divided in the 1948 war.

As residents of the same Muslim Quarter apartment for seven decades, Nora’s family gained the status of protected tenants, putting Israeli law on their side.

Nora shared with The Associated Press her Jordanian rental contract from 1953 that showed that she and Mustafa paid rent to a “General Custodian” for abandoned properties, first under Jordanian authorities and then under Israel after the 1967 war. She now pays rent — 200 Jordanian dinars, or $282 each year — to the lawyers of the Jewish trust.

The case has dragged on for decades, as the Israeli custodian and then the Kollel Galicia trust contested the family’s protected tenancy. Most recently, the Kollel Galicia endowment argued in 2019 that Nora’s absence from her house that year could clear the way for their eviction.

Nora said the house was empty at times in 2019 because she was hospitalized with a back injury and later recovered in the houses of her adult children, whom Israeli authorities had previously expelled from the Old City apartment.

Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the eviction order in late February, ending the saga that has subsumed almost her entire life and the lives of her five children. Two of her sons — Ahmad, a human rights researcher, and Rafat, a lawyer — have become full-time advocates for the case.

The Israeli police said that authorities “understand the emotions involved” but are “dedicated to upholding the rule of law” and enforcing the eviction.

Now in limbo, Nora feels her house has become a prison cell. Worried the settlers will seize on even a momentary absence to move in, she said she hasn’t stepped outside since May. Her windows — and their breath-taking view of the golden shrine — are covered with wire mesh to protect against her neighbors’ stones.

Last week, supporters and artists helped the family prepare their home for its future guests. They painted an olive tree in the living room with the words “We will remain,” written in its wild roots. There is a portrait of Nora, too, with her wire-rimmed glasses and careful smile.

“They don’t want peace, they want surrender,” she said.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Riverside clinic operator is arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a patient

• June 28, 2023

RIVERSIDE — A physician and operator of a Riverside skin care clinic was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of sexually assaulting a patient.

Dr. Sam Sannoufi, 52, of Newport Beach was booked into the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside on suspicion of sexual battery and forcible digital penetration.

Sannoufi posted a $1 million bond and was released within a few hours.

According to Riverside Police Department Officer Ryan Railsback, a woman contacted the agency’s Sexual Assault-Child Abuse Unit earlier this month, alleging that she was assaulted by the suspect during a consultation at his business, Timeless Skincare Laser Clinic Primary Care at 6900 Brockton Ave.

The specific circumstances behind the alleged offense, and the victim’s identity, were not disclosed.

Railsback said SACA detectives gathered sufficient evidence to obtain an arrest warrant, and Sannoufi was summoned to the department’s Orange Street station, where he was taken into custody without incident.

“Investigators believe there may be other victims who have not yet come forward,” the police spokesman said.

Anyone with information was encouraged to contact SACA investigators at 951-353-7950.

Sannoufi has no documented prior misdemeanor or felony convictions in Riverside County.

According to the Medical Board of California, the suspect has been a licensed doctor in the state since March 2009. He is a graduate of the Ukrainian State Medical University in Kyiv and has no listed disciplinary actions, administrative citations or malpractice suits on file with regulators.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Shohei Ohtani homers twice, pitches Angels to victory over White Sox

• June 28, 2023

ANAHEIM — As Shohei Ohtani continues to defy description, Angels fans spelled it out rather simply with a chant as he circled the bases for the second time on Tuesday night.

“M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!”

The Angel Stadium crowd of 33,637 on Japanese Heritage Night roared its appreciation for Ohtani on a night when he pitched into the seventh inning and hit two home runs in the Angels’ 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

“The performance today was incredible,” Manager Phil Nevin said.

Ohtani increased his major league-leading home run total to 28 with a 418-foot shot to right field in the first inning and a 404-foot drive to left-center in the seventh.

The latter came moments after he left the mound with a cracked fingernail, ending his night charged with one earned run in 6⅓ innings while striking out 10. Ohtani said he doesn’t know which day he’s starting next, but he doesn’t expect the fingernail will be an issue.

As the Angels (44-37) reached the midpoint of the season, Ohtani is hitting .304 with a major league-leading OPS of 1.040. He’s also leading the majors with 64 RBIs. He is on pace for 56 homers.

On the mound, he is 7-3 with a 3.02 ERA in 95⅓ innings, with 127 strikeouts.

Asked if he’s at his peak both as a pitcher and a hitter right now, Ohtani said through his interpreter: “Hitting-wise, I feel like it’s up there for sure right now.”

When Ohtani was the unanimous MVP in 2021, he hit 46 homers with a .965 OPS, and he had a 3.18 ERA. He heard the same “M-V-P” chants back then as he heard on Tuesday.

“It’s always a good feeling to hear that,” Ohtani said. “It gives me a lot of motivation to do better.”

Already voted to start the All-Star Game as the DH, Ohtani is putting the finishing touches on one of the best all-around months of his career.

He’s batting .383 with a 1.388 OPS this month, including 13 homers, all in his last 20 games.

“We’re seeing things every day that we’ve never seen before and you try not to take it for granted and I don’t think any of us do,” Nevin said. “I understand how special it is. But I also understand how special the person is to our room and what he’s bringing to us every day as well as the rest of his teammates.”

While Ohtani has been a productive hitter for the entire season, his pitching was not up to his normal level during a surprising slump in May. He’s reversed that trend over his last three starts, allowing four earned runs in 19⅓ innings, a 1.86 ERA. He struck out 31 and walked five.

One of the recent differences in his pitching is the way he’s mixed his pitches.

Ohtani again threw more fastballs (34) than sweepers (24) among his 102 pitches, continuing a trend over the span of his turnaround over the last three starts.

He’s thrown his fastball 43.3% of the time over his last three starts, after throwing it 27.0% of the time in his first 13 starts. He’s cut the sweeper from 40.1% to 21.1%.

“I think he’s done some things mechanically pitching-wise, that have helped him a little bit, whether it’s pitch-mixing and game-planning,” Nevin said. “I think that’s been a lot better, if you will.”

Ohtani put the Angels ahead in the first and then he cruised through the White Sox lineup without much trouble through the first six innings. He gave up a leadoff double in the second, but he stranded the runner at third when he struck out Yasmani Grandal and Jake Burger.

The Angels weren’t giving him much margin for error, adding just a single run on a David Fletcher groundout in the fourth.

They had a precarious 2-1 lead when Ohtani came to bat in the bottom of the seventh.

He then blasted his second homer, the first time in his career that he’s hit multiple homers in a game he pitched. The Angels added an insurance run on an RBI single from Mike Moustakas, playing his second game with the Angels.

Relievers Jacob Webb, Chris Devenski and Carlos Estévez handled the final eight outs after Ohtani was done.

Estévez gave up a run in the ninth, but he escaped a bases-loaded jam to set an Angels record by converting his 20th straight save opportunity to start the season.

By avoiding a ninth-inning disaster, Estévez was able to protect the victory and preserve Ohtani’s magical night.

“Every game somehow seems to get even crazier, watching him play,” catcher Chad Wallach said. “Watch him pitch like that and then go hit two homers. Somehow it still surprises you every time.”

Related Articles

Shohei Ohtani’s night:
2 HR as a batter
10 Ks as a pitcher. pic.twitter.com/Bzm0Q3qvKF

— MLB (@MLB) June 28, 2023

SHOHEI OHTANI@Angels | #GoHalos pic.twitter.com/Hnr55DmIWo

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) June 28, 2023

Shohei Ohtani had everything working on the mound. pic.twitter.com/ZlznAPhkOU

— MLB (@MLB) June 28, 2023

A look at Ohtani’s 2 HR’s & 10 K’s tonight @Angels | #GoHalos pic.twitter.com/orasSKquSN

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) June 28, 2023

Fletch flashes the leather! @Angels | #GoHalos pic.twitter.com/iUavF13o1v

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) June 28, 2023

​ Orange County Register 

A restored Mission San Gabriel casts a new light on Southern California Indigenous history

• June 28, 2023

After three years of closure and restoration, voices will once again echo in the halls of Mission San Gabriel starting Saturday, July 1.

Now, after the pandemic and a fire that nearly destroyed it, the historic mission will finally be reopened.

On Tuesday, June 27, Roman Catholic leaders, including L.A. Archbishop José Gomez, the local Gabrieleño/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians and other invited dignitaries came to the historic site to christen a restored landmark while unveiling its reimagined museum, designed to highlight local Indigenous voices and history.

“Thanks be to God!” proclaimed Rev. Parker Sandoval, the vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who was a leader in the restoration effort. “Today, three years later, the mission is fully restored and above all, the museum is now refreshed with a brand new exhibit.”

On July 10, 2020, a fire, which officials say was set by an arsonist, broke out in the mission’s choir loft, eventually spreading to damage the pulpit and altar. The blaze caused major damage to the roof, the interior, to artifacts and in the attic of a 250-year-old mission, the fourth of 21 missions Spaniards built in Alta California.

For a Roman Catholic Community that treasures the church, the restoration was a major moment in the history of a landmark that paved a path for the Roman Catholic Church in the region and in the United States.

But it was also a sobering moment, imbued with a complex and often troubling past.

The arrival of Spanish missionaries had a huge impact on the future of California. But it would also displace the area’s Native American inhabitants – a fact that Los Angeles Archdiocese sought to acknowledge, even as the mission opens to the public on the day that celebrates the sainthood of Junipero Serra, the controversial Spanish priest who established the landmark.

The mission museum’s new exhibit “Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, 1771-1900: Natives, Missionaries, and the Birth of Catholicism in Los Angeles,” provides a look into the mission’s long and complex history. The galleries include baptismal records, textiles, paintings and even audio recordings of 18th century music and letter readings.

A large portion of the museum, which also opens July 1, focuses on Native American culture and history in the Los Angeles area. This includes a new Wall of Names that was erected that lists more than 7,000 Native Americans who were baptized at the mission.

It is a part of their efforts to acknowledge the history of Native Americans previously excluded from such narratives. Built on Indigenous labor, Mission San Gabriel is now the burial site for 5,600 Native Americans, making it a place of religious observance and significance to local Native Americans.

“For me, everything here on these mission grounds is sacred, it’s important, because it reflects our culture, it reflects the teachings of our ancestors to us younger generations and for us to continue showing other generations coming after us so it could never become extinct,” said Chief Anthony Morales of the Gabrieleño/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians.

In the past, the mission and its museum had a focus on the history of the Franciscans and their ushering in of Catholicism into the L.A. area.

The new exhibit seeks to bridge the gap between past and present, providing a window into the lives of those affected by the mission, specifically the Indigenous people who were living in the region since long before colonization.

“It diversifies the story being told in the mission,” said exhibit curator Steven Hackel, the history professor at UC Riverside who secured several grants, including $25,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and $30,000 from the California Bishops Council to help cover costs for his team’s work on the museum. “It helps us understand that the Native community is still here and it teaches a whole new way of understanding the history of this mission.”

Hackel worked alongside a team of collaborators, including associate curator Yve Chavez, a Gabrieleno/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians member and assistant professor of art history at the University of Oklahoma.

Morales lamented the history of his ancestors but also acknowledged just how important it is to show that history at this site.

“It wasn’t a good history between us and the founding of the mission system and the padres,” Morales said. “We were forced to learn, we were forced to build the missions… . But if we forget that portion of the history, then we’re erasing our ancestors.”

Today, at Mission San Gabriel, the church and local Native groups cooperate in the preservation and education of their intertwined past.

“They worship here,” said Sandoval. “This is their home. This is the place where their ancestors are buried. It’s important to them, and therefore it’s important for the church because half the Natives in Los Angeles are Catholic. They are our people, this is their land and we are very happy to celebrate their culture and their history here.”

After a service in the main chapel on Tuesday, visitors were led out to the courtyard in front of the museum’s entrance. There, members of the local Native American community sang songs of welcome and made music for their ancestors. The smell of incense filled the courtyard as they recited prayers and blessings for the restored mission.

Afterward, Archbishop José Gomez gave his blessing, sprinkling holy water throughout the museum before allowing visitors to enter the refurbished exhibition.

And Morales continued his reflection.

“People think we no longer exist. They think we’re extinct. But we’re not,” Morales said.

Related links

3 years after fire nearly destroyed it, Mission San Gabriel is ready to reopen
2 years after devastating fire, Mass returns to Mission San Gabriel
4-alarm fire destroys most of Mission San Gabriel

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers ride Clayton Kershaw’s strong start to shutout win at Coors Field

• June 28, 2023

DENVER — Coors Field is perfectly suited for the kind of milestone J.D. Martinez was chasing – not so much for the kind of history Clayton Kershaw teased.

Kershaw retired the first 12 batters in order and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning at Coors Field which has yielded just one no-hitter in its 28-year history (Hideo Nomo’s for the Dodgers in 1996). Meanwhile, Martinez hit two home runs, reaching 300 for his career, as the Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-0, Tuesday night.

Martinez became the 156th player in baseball history to hit 300 career home runs, joining a group that includes teammate Freddie Freeman (now at 306 after reaching 300 last month).

Home run No. 299 came in the third inning off of Rockies starter Connor Seabold with one out and a runner on. Martinez drove a 1-and-1 fastball over the high wall in right field.

He led off the sixth inning with his milestone homer, sending the first pitch he saw from lefty reliever Brad Hand over the wall in left field.

If Martinez reaching 300 career home runs seemed inevitable, Kershaw flirting with a no-hitter at Coors Field was unexpected. The veteran left-hander entered the game with a 4.82 ERA in 26 previous career starts at altitude and had ended just two of those without giving up a run.

It hadn’t gotten better recently either. Kershaw allowed 17 runs in 15 innings over three starts at Coors Field the past two seasons.

But he breezed through the Rockies’ lineup for six stress-free innings Tuesday. He walked Elias Diaz to start the sixth inning and gave up a single to No. 9 hitter Brenton Doyle with two outs in the sixth. A hard ground ball to third baseman Max Muncy’s left just made it into left field to end Kershaw’s no-hit bid.

Diaz was erased in a double play and Kershaw picked Doyle off first base to end the sixth inning having faced the minimum 18 batters while throwing just 79 pitches.

He didn’t go back out for the seventh, raising concerns about the only member of the Dodgers’ season-opening starting rotation not to go on the injured list yet this year.

With their rotation depleted by injury, the Dodgers have leaned on Kershaw over the past month. He went seven innings in three of his previous four starts, throwing at least 96 pitches in all four. He allowed just four runs in 33 innings in June.

The bullpen finished off a three-hit shutout with three scoreless innings, continuing that group’s turnaround. Phil Bickford loaded the bases with walks in the ninth but Dodgers relievers have been charged with just one earned run over their past 31⅓ innings.

More to come on this story.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County’s top committed football recruits, June 27

• June 28, 2023

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Top committed high school football recruits from Orange County’s class of 2024:

Name, High school, Position, Height, Weight, College

Jordan Anderson, Newport Harbor, WR, 6-0, 165, Oregon

Travis Anderson, Mission Viejo, S, 6-0, 175, Boise State

Connor Bachhuber, San Clemente, OL, 6-5, 245, Stanford

Elijah Brown, Mater Dei, QB, 6-2, 200, Stanford

Jeilani Davis, Mater Dei, S, 6-1, 190, Utah

Khristian Dunbar-Hawkins, Tustin, CB, 5-11, 175, UCLA

Nate Hoss, Laguna Hills, 6-6, 220, DE, Air Force

Dylan Mills, San Clemente, QB, 6-2, 210, Villanova

Emmett Mosley, Santa Margarita, WR, 6-1, 190, Stanford

Jack Ressler, Mater Dei, WR, 5-11, 195, Oregon

Mark Schroller, Mission Viejo, OL, 6-6, 280, UCLA

Ryner Swanson, Laguna Beach, TE/DE, 6-4, 240, BYU

LeVar Talley, Santa Margarita, OLB/DE, 6-3, 215, Nevada

Justin Tauanuu, Huntington Beach, OL, 6-6, 285, Stanford

Treyvon Tolmaire, Mission Viejo, CB, 6-0, 180, Boise State

Kaho Tuihalamaka, Mater Dei, DL, 6-4, 340, Arizona

Travis Wood, Tesoro, RB, 5-10, 210, Air Force

Please send football recruiting news to Dan Albano at [email protected] or @ocvarsityguy on Twitter

RELATED: Mater Dei’s Elijah Brown relishes Elite 11 camp as college decision nears

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers extend qualifying offers to Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, making them restricted free agents

• June 28, 2023

EL SEGUNDO — A formality became official for the Lakers on Tuesday evening.

The Lakers officially extended qualifying offers to guard Austin Reaves and forward Rui Hachimura.

The moves, which were expected, will make the duo restricted free agents when the free agency negotiating window starts Friday at 3 p.m. PT.

The Lakers had until Thursday to make a one-year, $2.19 million qualifying offer to Reaves and a 1-year, $7.74 million offer to Hachimura.

The offers don’t guarantee that Reaves or Hachimura will be back with the team next season, but the Lakers will have the right to match any contract offer either player receives from another team.

The Lakers can still negotiate long-term deals with both players.

Reaves, who went undrafted out of Oklahoma in 2021, originally signed a two-way contract with the Lakers in August 2021 before signing a 2-year, $2.49 million standard NBA deal the following month ahead of the 2021-22 season.

The 25-year-old guard is coming off a breakout season in which he averaged 13 points (68.7% true shooting – a formula that incorporates free throws and higher-value 3-point shots), 3.4 assists and 3 rebounds in 28.8 minutes (64 games – 22 starts).

Reaves stepped up in the postseason as the team’s third-leading playoff scorer, averaging 16.9 points (61.6% true shooting), 4.6 assists and 4.4 rebounds in 36.2 minutes (16 games – all starts) during the Lakers’ run to the Western Conference finals.

The Lakers acquired Hachimura, the No. 9 pick in the 2019 draft, in a Jan. 23 trade with the Washington Wizards.

Hachimura averaged 9.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in his 33 regular-season games with the Lakers. He found his offensive rhythm, especially as a 3-point shooter, during the playoffs, averaging 12.2 points (48.7% shooting from 3-point range) and 3.6 rebounds as a key part of the rotation (24.3 minutes – 16 games played and one start).

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers’ slumping Miguel Vargas could see playing time cut

• June 28, 2023

DENVER — The Dodgers handed Miguel Vargas the job as their primary second baseman with the expectation that he would eventually hit major-league pitching the way he hit pitching at every other level.

It hasn’t happened and Vargas’ playing time could be a casualty. With Vargas mired in a 1-for-31 slump and his batting average for the season hovering just over .200, Mookie Betts started at second base for the second consecutive game Tuesday.

“It’s a mental break more so than anything, to be quite honest,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, adding that Betts will make another start on the infield during the series in Colorado. “I had a great conversation with him (before Sunday’s game). I just wanted to kind of ease his mind, just continue to let him know how much the confidence hasn’t wavered.

“For me, it’s just going back to what he does really well and that’s to get hits. If we can kind of just simplify it to that and swing at good pitches and not try to do too much and not have to be a carrier and slug – just to get hits, I think things will start to turn. But I am really proud of the fact that the defense hasn’t been compromised.”

Heading into the season, Vargas’ defense was the Dodgers’ main concern, given his lack of experience at second base. But his play on that side of the ball has been adequate and improving.

At the plate, however, Vargas has gone in the other direction.

“I just think that once you start to struggle, you start to press a little bit, you start to try to get things back in one game, one at-bat. And then it just snowballs,” Roberts said. “It’s not just young players. Veteran players it happens to as well, but it’s certainly more magnified for a younger player.”

That struggle has been apparent in Vargas becoming more pull-heavy as the season has progressed. Finding his way out of a slump is not something Vargas is familiar with after hitting .313 in his four-year minor-league career.

“It’s the first time I would assume he’s ever struggled for quite a while with the bat,” Roberts said. “For Miguel, the thing that we sort of could bet on was his bat-to-ball, getting hits and then some on-base (percentage). I think right now there’s a little bit of some pressing. He’s in it. He’s grinding.”

MUNCY RETURNS

Max Muncy was activated from the injured list and returned to the Dodgers’ lineup at third base on Tuesday. Infielder Michael Busch was returned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Muncy said he knew his injured hamstring had recovered when he took live at-bats Sunday afternoon and ran the bases as part of the simulation.

“We were pushing really hard to get back. It was a minor thing but I think maybe because we were pushing so hard to get back it wasn’t fully healing,” Muncy said. “It was one of those things where we didn’t want to take a chance on something minor turning into something major. So a couple extra days and here we are.”

ROTATION STABILIZATION

Left-hander Julio Urias rejoined the Dodgers after his four-inning rehab start in Rancho Cucamonga on Sunday. He is penciled in to come off the IL and start on Saturday against the Kansas City Royals.

Urias has been out since injuring his hamstring during his start in St. Louis on May 18. Since then, the Dodgers have used four rookies in their starting rotation with mixed results (Gavin Stone, Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan and Michael Grove) and resorted to bullpen games on multiple occasions.

“It just stabilizes it,” Roberts said of the effect of Urias’ return. “He’s a world champion pitcher and an All-Star so to have him back in the rotation, I think he’s gonna come back with some vengeance. This year was certainly highly anticipated for him. It hasn’t gone the way we had expected. So I think he’s going to be on a mission.”

The Dodgers will likely go with another bullpen game on Wednesday against the Rockies, though Grove could be available to pitch multiple innings. It could be the last bullpen game for a while.

“That’s the hope,” Roberts said. “We’ll see.”

ALSO

Catching prospect Dalton Rushing was selected to represent the Dodgers in the All-Star Futures Game on July 8 in Seattle. Rushing was the Dodgers’ first draft pick last year (40th overall). He is hitting .263 with a .938 OPS in 48 games for Class-A Great Lakes.

UP  NEXT

Dodgers (TBA) at Rockies (LHP Kyle Freeland 4-8, 4.54 ERA), Wednesday, 5:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register