GAGNE TO HAVE SURGERY: Dodgers closer Eric Gagne will have surgery today to remove a nerve from his pitching elbow, his second arm operation in less than a year. Team spokesman Josh Rawitch said there was no timetable for the return of Gagne, who saved 152 games from 2002-04 and was a near-unanimous winner of the NL Cy Young Award in 2003. Rawitch said surgery on the 30-year-old right-hander will be performed at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles. It's the same nerve that was moved during an operation last June.
DICKEY ALLOWS 6 HOMERS: Texas knuckleballer R.A. Dickey allowed six home runs to Detroit on Thursday night, tying the post-1900 major league record. Five of the homers were solo shots. The only pitcher to give up more homers was Charlie Sweeney of the St. Louis Maroons, who allowed seven at the Detroit Wolverines on June 12, 1886.
Brandon Inge started the power show on the game's second pitch, and Magglio Ordonez hit another in the first inning. Chris Shelton homered leading off the second and went deep again in the fourth. Craig Monroe and Marcus Thames hit back-to-back homers later in the inning, and Rangers manager Buck Showalter finally pulled Dickey with Texas trailing 7-0.
LOWRY STRAINS BACK: The San Francisco Giants could be back to their patchwork pitching rotation of recent years.
Left-hander Noah Lowry was forced to leave his start Thursday against the Atlanta Braves in the second inning with a strained muscle in his lower back.
The severity of the injury wasn't immediately known. The 25-year-old Lowry, the Giants' No. 3 starter, was undergoing tests and scheduled to be re-evaluated Friday.
"I don't know how serious it is," trainer Stan Conte said after the Giants' 6-4 win in their home opener. "We're still in the midst of it. We'll know more tomorrow afternoon."
MARINERS ACQUIRE DE LA CRUZ: The Seattle Mariners acquired Class A pitcher Jose De La Cruz from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Thursday for Marcos Carvajal in a swap of right-handers. The 22-year-old De La Cruz was 3-6 with a 3.94 ERA and 19 saves in 50 games for Class A Southwest Michigan in 2005. The Devil Rays signed him in 2002. Seattle had designated 21-year-old Carvajal for assignment last week. He allowed eight runs in 2 1/3 innings during spring training.
YANKEES CLAIM HILL: The New York Yankees claimed catcher Koyie Hill off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday. New York, which already is carrying three catchers, must make a roster move when Hill reports to the team. If Hill is put on the 25-man active roster, Wil Nieves appears likely to lose his spot.
BURNETT MAKES REHAB START: Toronto's A.J. Burnett allowed one run and three hits in four innings Thursday night during a rehabilitation start for Class A Dunedin against Clearwater in Florida. Burnett walked two, struck out two and hit a batter, throwing 39 of 62 pitches for strikes. The right-hander, signed to a $55 million, five-year contract during the offseason, took himself out of a spring training game on March 18 because of elbow pain, which came from scar tissue coming loose. Toronto has said Burnett will make another rehab start on April 11, then make his Blue Jays debut at the Chicago White Sox on April 16.