Sep 27, 2018 3 min read

The Pittsburgh Pirates expect infielder Jung Ho Kang to join the club Friday and be active for a season-ending season at Cincinnati in what would be his first major league appearance in two years.

The 31-year-old didn’t play in North America between September 2016 and June 2018 because of visa issues connected to three DUI arrests his native South Korea.

Kang played in seven games for Class A Bradenton and nine games for Triple-A Indianapolis in June before a left wrist injury that led to surgery in August.

Pittsburgh made the announcement before Thursday night’s game at the Chicago Cubs.

Kang, who plays third base and shortstop, hit .273 with 36 homers and 120 RBIs in 229 games for the Pirates in 2015 and 2016.

Colorado 5, L.A. Dodgers 3: David Dahl homered for the fourth straight game, and the Colorado Rockies opened a one-game NL West lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday that extended their winning streak to seven.

Trevor Story and Gerardo Parra also went deep for the Rockies (89-70), who matched their losing winning streak this season. Dahl hit a run-scoring triple and finished the four-game sweep with eight hits and 11 RBIs.

Trying for the first NL West title in team history, Colorado closes at home with three games against Washington and already is assured its winningest season since going 92-70 in 2009.

Atlanta 4, N.Y. Mets 1: Julio Teheran looked sharp in his last audition to become part of Atlanta’s playoff rotation, pitching two-hit ball for six innings in the Braves’ 4-1 loss to the New York Mets.

The NL East champion Braves didn’t start first baseman Freddie Freeman and center fielder Ender Inciarte, and they were minus injured shortstop Dansby Swanson for the second straight game.

Jason Vargas (7-9) tossed seven shutout innings in his best start of the season for the Mets. He helped New York blank the Braves for the second day in a row.

American League

N.Y. Yankees 12, Tampa Bay 1: CC Sabathia got his 246th win and moved the New York Yankees closer to hosting next week’s AL wild-card game but may have cost himself a $500,000 bonus.

Sabathia was ejected from Thursday’s 12-1 win over the Rays in the sixth inning for hitting Jesus Sucre on a leg in retaliation for Tampa Bay reliever Andrew Kittredge throwing an inside pitch at Austin Romine. Making his final regular-season start, Sabathia had thrown 55 pitches and the five innings raised his season total to 153 innings – two shy of a $500,000 performance bonus in his contract for reaching 155 innings.

New York (98-61) ensured its winningest season since going 103-59 en route to the 2009 World Series title and moved two games ahead of Oakland (96-63) for hosting the Oct. 3 wild-card game. The Yankees hold the tiebreaker, which means more Yankees win or Athletics loss ensures the game would be in the Bronx.

Houston-Baltimore ppd: The Houston Astros aren’t going to simply go through the motions while closing out the regular season.

Houston’s game against the Baltimore Orioles was postponed by rain, meaning the Astros will squeeze in four games over the final three days, including a doubleheader Saturday.

Not a problem for the AL West champions, who open the playoffs Oct. 5 at home against Cleveland.