BALTIMORE (AP) — The New York Mets placed Starling Marte on the 10-day injured list with a bruised right knee on Tuesday and activated Jesse Winker, who missed two months with an oblique injury.
Marte and Winker play the outfield, but have been used primarily as the Mets' designated hitter.
“It's funny how things work,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “You gain one, you lose one.”
Also on Tuesday, the Mets selected the contract of right-hander Alex Carrillo from Triple-A Syracuse and designated pitcher Zach Pop for assignment.
Marte had seven hits in his last three games, including three on Sunday as the starting left fielder against the Yankees. The 36-year-old is batting .270 with four homers and 20 RBIs in 58 games.
The Mets hope to have Marte back after the All-Star break.
“It was something he was dealing with during spring training and a little bit of last year,” Mendoza said. “We're going to let it calm down. Talking with him today, he's in a pretty good spot.”
Winker, activated from the 60-day injured list, last played on May 4. The left fielder is batting .239 with one home run and 10 RBIs in 24 games.
“He's a big bat, especially from the left side,” Mendoza said. “You know what you're going to get at the plate. I'm excited to have him back.”
Carrillo, signed by the Mets out of the Venezuelan Winter League, has a blistering fastball that has been clocked at 100 mph.
“It's a pretty cool story,” Mendoza said. “A guy who was in Independent ball last year. I remember getting a call from someone in Venezuela that I know, telling me about this guy. We got him in the organization, and he's in the big leagues now. We're going to give him a good look here.”
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New York Mets' Starling Marte reacts after flying out to end the sixth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, July 6, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
HONG KONG (AP) — Fireworks are typically a celebratory centerpiece of Hong Kong's New Year celebrations. Not this year.
The territory will ring in 2026 without spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor after a massive fire in November that killed at least 161 people.
The city’s tourism board will instead host a music show Wednesday night featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district that also is home to the famous nightlife hub Lan Kwai Fong. The facades of eight landmarks will turn into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.
Fireworks have long been part of the city’s celebrations for the New Year, Lunar New Year and National Day. The pyrotechnic displays against Hong Kong’s world-famous skyline of skyscrapers typically draw hundreds of thousands of people including many tourists to both sides of the promenade.
Rosanna Law, the territory's secretary for culture, sports and tourism, acknowledged Tuesday that having no fireworks would affect some hotel and restaurant businesses.
The financial hub’s worst blaze since 1948 broke out at Wang Fuk Court, in the northern suburban district of Tai Po, in late November. The apartment complex was undergoing a monthslong renovation project with buildings covered by bamboo scaffolding and green netting.
Authorities have pointed to the substandard netting and foam boards installed on windows as contributing factors in the fire’s rapid spread. Thousands of affected residents have moved to transitional homes, hotels and youth hostels, struggling to recover from the loss of lives and homes that took them years to buy. The casualties pained many residents across the city.
Past tragedies in Hong Kong have forced similar cancellations of fireworks. They include the 2013 National Day festivities following a vessel collision that killed 39 people on Oct. 1, 2012, and the 2018 Lunar New Year celebration after a bus crash that left 19 dead. During the 2019 anti-government protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple displays also were scrapped.
The origin of fireworks is believed to date to China in the second century B.C., when someone discovered bamboo stalks exploded with loud bangs when thrown into fire, creating the first natural “firecrackers,” according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, a U.S. trade group.
The Guinness World Records organization says the first accurately documented firework, the Chinese firecracker, was created by Li Tian, a monk from China’s Tang dynasty dating to around 618 to 907 C.E. Li discovered that putting gunpowder in enclosed hollow bamboo stems created loud explosions and bound crackers together to create the traditional New Year firecrackers to drive out evil spirits, Guinness said.
People gather at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People attend the New Year countdown event to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People take selfies at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People pose for photographs at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
FILE - Fireworks explode over Victoria Harbour to celebrate the start of 2025 at Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File)
