HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros optioned struggling outfielder Jake Meyers to Triple-A Sugar Land in one of four roster moves made before Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Astros also optioned outfielder Joey Loperfido to Triple-A, recalled outfielder/infielder Zach Dezenzo from Triple-A and reinstated infielder/outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. from the injured list.
Meyers, a Gold Glove finalist in 2024 and the Astros’ third-longest-tenured position player, went hitless in Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Rays, dropping his batting average to .206 for the season. He has posted a .167/.231/.250 line since June 2, and he started just three of the Astros’ previous 10 games.
“He’s helped us to win a lot of games, helped us win a lot of postseason games,” Houston manager Joe Espada said. “He’s part of this organization’s success, but he understood it. We’re going to help him. We’ve pinpointed some things that he’s going to be working on in Triple-A.”
Loperfido, who was reacquired in a trade from the Toronto Blue Jays at the start of spring training, is batting .136 since returning from the injured list June 4.
Wade was 4 for 12 with a home run in four games with the Astros after signing as a free agent on June 4. He landed on the IL with a right hamstring strain on June 9.
Dezenzo batted .191 in 21 games with the Astros earlier this season before being optioned to Triple-A on June 5.
“(We’re trying to see) if having Wade and Dezenzo can spark something up and see if we can get something going,” Espada said.
The Astros began Saturday with a 43-47 record, three games back of the Texas Rangers for first place in the AL West.
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Houston Astros outfielder Jake Meyers, bottom, misplays a fly ball off the bat of Toronto Blue Jays' Nathan Lukes in front of teammate Yordan Alvarez, right, during the eighth inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Monday, June 22, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Reed Hoffmann has been a freelance photographer for The Associated Press for more than a quarter of century. Before moving to the Kansas City area, he was a newspaper photographer for more than 20 years. He covers breaking news in addition to various sporting events for the AP.
As we enter the final rounds of the World Cup, The Associated Press has five photographers covering every match. Four are in different spots around the pitch at field level and one in an overhead position, called the “tribune.” That was me for Friday night’s game between Colombia and Ghana. During halftime an announcement was made for fans to scan a QR code shown on the stadium screens to take part in a light show. Since I also cover the Kansas City Chiefs there, and they do that occasionally, I knew what was coming. The stadium lights would flash on and off with music playing, and fans’ smartphones would also turn on and off.
I’m normally shooting a telephoto lens at either 400mm or 560mm for action, but have a second camera with a wide-angle lens for overall photos. Once they made that announcement, I grabbed the second camera, changed the settings for less light and waited for the right moment. With action I’m always shooting at over 1/1000 second to stop action, but for this I dropped the shutter speed to 1/80 second and braced the camera on the railing in front of me.
It’s rare for the lights to be off in a stadium during a night game, so that, paired with the tens of thousands of smartphone lights, created a scene few people ever see. For most of the light show, though, the stadium lights were just changing in brightness. There were only two brief moments the lights were completely off, and I waited for those. In photography, different is good, so I try to keep that in mind with every assignment I do. And this was very different.
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
Fans take part in a light show with their mobile phones during halftime in the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Colombia and Ghana in Kansas City, Mo., Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)
