NEW YORK (AP) — Jorge Polanco returned to the New York Mets' lineup Tuesday after missing nearly three months with right wrist and left Achilles injuries.
“Feeling good,” Polanco said before the Mets opened a series against Kansas City. “Feeling grateful. Excited to be back.”
Polanco, who hadn't played since April 14, went 1 for 4 with an RBI double and a walk in the Mets' 16-12 loss. He also had a home run overturned in the fifth, when a crew chief review revealed the ball sailed just foul down the right field line.
He'll likely occupy the DH spot the remainder of the season as the last-place Mets manage his chronic Achilles injury.
Polanco signed to two-year, $40 million deal with the expectation he’d replace Pete Alonso at first base, despite having played just one inning at that position.
He started at first base in the first two games of the season, before he began battling bursitis in his left Achilles. Polanco was batting .179 with a homer in 56 at-bats when he went on the injured list with a right wrist contusion April 18.
Polanco received a platelet-rich injection in April. He paused a minor league rehab assignment in early June and went 2 for 15 with two homers for Triple-A Syracuse in five games since resuming the assignment June 27.
“Got more good days than bad days,” Polanco said. “That’s why I came here now.”
Interim manager Andy Green said Polanco won’t play everyday at designated hitter. He said his presence off the bench as a switch-hitter will provide flexibility in the late innings.
Outfielder Luis Robert Jr., sidelined since April 27 due to lumbar spine disc herniation, moved his rehab to Double-A Binghamton on Tuesday. He went 1 for 10 in three games for Syracuse and will likely play his first game for Binghamton on Wednesday.
Second baseman Marcus Semien, placed on the IL with a left hip flexor strain on June 25, ran at what Green described as 80% intensity Monday.
To make room for Polanco on the active roster, the Mets optioned infielder Ronny Mauricio to Triple-A Syracuse. The club also designated pitchers Guillermo Zuniga and Alex Carrillo for assignment and added right-hander Matt Seelinger to the active roster.
Seelinger, a 31-year-old native of nearby Westbury, New York, took the loss in his big league debut after giving up seven runs and throwing 52 pitches over two innings of relief for the short-handed Mets.
The 28th-round selection of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2017 draft, Seelinger, who played at Division III Farmingdale State on Long Island, said he expected plenty of family and friends in attendance Tuesday night.
“I think it’s really cool — you probably can’t script stories better than playing in the ballpark that was 15 minutes away from where you grew up and having grinded for nine to 10 years in the minor leagues,” Green said before the game. “I think you’re always excited about those stories.”
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FILE - New York Mets' Jorge Polanco (11) bats during the first inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis,File)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV announced Sunday he will undergo surgery “in the coming days” to remove a nodule on his lung, in the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate.
The 71-year-old Leo said the nodule was found at an early stage and was “circumscribed” or well-localized. The Vatican said Leo's expected recovery time from surgery would be a week.
The American pope made the announcement during his Sunday noon blessing. He thanked the crowd for their closeness and entrusted himself to their prayers.
The Vatican didn’t say exactly when the surgery would take place, other than in the early days of this week. Leo has one upcoming main event: the closing Mass on Wednesday of a weeklong conference on family ministry, but Vatican officials suggested he might miss it.
A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 3 centimeters (1 inch) that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen, according to the American Cancer Society. Often, the scans are done to investigate trauma or a lung infection, unrelated to a lung cancer screening.
“Lung nodules are fairly common and are often benign, but benign and cancerous nodules can have a similar appearance on imaging," said Dr. Stephen Liu, a lung cancer expert at Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
"When there is sufficient concern, and when it is safe to do so based on the location of the nodule and the overall health of the patient, surgical removal can provide a definitive diagnosis,” he said.
If the nodule turns out to be cancerous, the prognosis is “excellent” since it will have been removed at an early stage and surgery alone might be all Leo needs in terms of treatment, he said in an interview.
"It often can be a blessing in disguise to remove that cancer before it has a chance to grow or to spread,” he said.
Leo has no previously known health problems and is physically active, with weekly tennis matches and swimming at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.
The pope has a major trip planned Nov. 6-17 to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. It's unclear how or whether the planned surgery and recovery might affect the itinerary, but Leo said earlier in his remarks Sunday that he still planned to go.
In his remarks, delivered in Italian, Leo said that during a recent medical check, “doctors found a small, localized nodule in my lung. It was detected at a very early stage and is circumscribed. The doctors believe it’s best to take action, so, following their advice, I have decided to have surgery to remove it."
He thanked the faithful "for your spiritual support, and I entrust myself to your prayers.”
Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, died April 21, 2025, of a stroke following a long hospitalization brought on by a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. Francis suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man.
Leo is expected to undergo surgery at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where Francis and popes before him were treated and where there is a special apartment for pontiffs. On Sunday, there was no obvious sign that the pope had already been admitted.
Dr. Dionysis Papadatos-Pastos, an oncologist and lung cancer specialist at The London Clinic, stressed that an incidental finding of a lung nodule doesn't mean lung cancer. And in fact “a well-circumscribed nodule does suggest that this is less likely to be cancer."
But he said cancer was possible and the main imperative is to investigate. "The worst thing you can do is ignore a lung nodule,” he said in an interview.
Liu, the Georgetown oncologist, said surgical removal in such a case was standard, especially for someone in otherwise good health and if the nodule is in an easily accessible location. A needle biopsy on a lung nodule can be difficult and may not provide doctors with enough information, he said.
"In these cases, surgery itself, while it may seem dramatic, is often very safe, very straightforward with a rapid recovery,” he said, adding that Leo should be in good shape to travel to Latin America barring any complications.
Dr. Massimo Di Maio, president of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology, said it will be important to determine if the nodule is benign or malignant, and if it is malignant, whether it has spread. When the disease is detected at an early stage “the aim … is curative,” he added.
Depending on what is found, possible treatments can include chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Di Maio told Italy’s private Sky TG24.
“When we talk about something being localized, that can also refer to the need to establish whether the disease is confined to that one site or whether scans show signs of disease elsewhere,” he said, adding that he has not treated the pope and was speaking about the disease in general.
“Being physically fit and healthy is certainly an important starting point for coping as well as possible with treatment, including surgery,” he added.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, among the few outsiders to visit Francis during his long final hospitalization, expressed her support, and that of the Italian government, for Leo “as he faces this challenge in the coming days.” In a statement, she added that “the serenity and calm with which he spoke about it” were reassuring.
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Barry reported from Milan; AP reporter Danica Kirka contributed from London.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The statue of late Pope John Paul II, center, is pictured at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV leaves at the end the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
