SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers activated reliever Tanner Scott from the injured list Friday before their key weekend series against the San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers optioned right-hander Matt Sauer to make room for Scott, who missed a month with left elbow inflammation.
Scott is 1-2 with a 4.14 ERA and 19 saves in 26 chances this season for the Dodgers, who signed the veteran left-hander away from the Padres last January with a four-year, $72 million deal. Scott led the majors with seven blown saves when he was sidelined July 22 after a series of rough outings.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't immediately commit to using Scott as his closer before his team opened play at Petco Park. Los Angeles hasn't had a designated closer since Scott got hurt, with four relievers combining to record only six saves for a high-priced team that has played .500 ball since the All-Star break.
“I don't know,” Roberts said. “I think for me, it's matchups, but obviously Tanner matches up with anyone.”
Scott was an NL All-Star last season for the Miami Marlins before being traded to San Diego. He pitched well down the stretch for the Padres before throwing 4 1/3 scoreless innings in the postseason, highlighted by four strikeouts of NL MVP Shohei Ohtani.
The Dodgers' injury-plagued bullpen is still without key right-handers Kirby Yates and Michael Kopech, but Roberts is optimistic that both will return soon. Yates is expected to be activated Saturday after missing a month with a back injury, while Kopech has already done three rehab appearances for Triple-A Oklahoma City after missing nearly two months with a knee injury.
“To get our guys back is exciting,” Roberts said. “It just takes a little bit of pressure off some guys, and it allows us to slot guys in the right spots.”
The Dodgers led the Padres by one game atop the NL West heading into the weekend at Petco. Los Angeles swept San Diego in a three-game series last weekend at Dodger Stadium.
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FILE - New Los Angeles Dodger reliever Tanner Scott answers questions during an introduction news conference at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
LONDON (AP) — Britain's Conservative Party, which governed the country from 2010 until it suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat two years ago, was plunged into fresh turmoil Thursday after its leader sacked the man widely seen as her greatest rival for apparently plotting to defect from the party.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a video and statement on X that she sacked the party's justice spokesperson Robert Jenrick due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect" in a way that was “designed to be as damaging as possible” to the party.
Badenoch also ejected Jenrick from the party's ranks in Parliament and suspended his party membership.
“The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I,” she said. “They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in this government. I will not repeat those mistakes.”
Though Badenoch did not specify which party Jenrick was planning to switch to, Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, said he had “of course” had conversations with him.
In the past 12 months, the Conservatives have suffered a string of defections to Reform UK, including some former Cabinet ministers.
Farage said in a press briefing in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, that coincided with Badenoch's statement that, “hand on heart,” he wasn't about to present Jenrick as the latest Conservative to defect to Reform, an upstart, anti-immigration party.
“I’ll give him a ring this afternoon,” he said. “I might even buy him a pint, you never know.”
The Conservatives are fighting not just the Labour government to their left, but Reform UK to the right. Reform has topped opinion polls for months, trounced the Conservatives in last May’s local elections and has welcomed a stream of defecting Tory members and officials.
Jenrick, who has continued to attract speculation about leadership ambitions despite being beaten in 2024, has appeared more open than Badenoch to the prospect of some sort of deal between the Conservatives and Reform in the run-up to next general election, which has to take place by 2029.
Jenrick has yet to respond to the news of his sacking.
The Conservatives remain the official opposition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour.
Badenoch, a small-state, low-tax advocate, has shifted the Conservatives to the right, announcing policies similar to those of U.S. President Donald Trump, including a promise to deport 150,000 unauthorized immigrants a year.
Her poor poll ratings and lackluster performance in Parliament had stirred speculation that she could be ousted long before the next election.
However, she has been making a better impression in Parliament in recent weeks in a way that appears to have cemented her position as leader.
The party is no stranger to turmoil, having gone through six leaders in the space of 10 years, five of them serving as prime minister. Widespread anger at the way the Conservatives were governing Britain led to their defeat at the general election in July 2024, when they lost around two-thirds of their lawmakers, their worst performance since the party was created nearly 200 years ago.
Reform Party leader Nigel Farage addresses protesters outside the Iranian embassy, in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
Kemi Badenoch with Robert Jenrick before being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Nov. 3, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
