Trio of NL pennant hopefuls dealing with injuries

The Philadelphia Phillies lost slugging first baseman Rhys Hoskins on Thursday when he damaged his left knee fielding a grounder in a spring training game. He needs surgery for a torn ACL and is expected to miss a significant amount of time.

St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (groin) and Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias (inflamed shoulder) also will begin the season on the injured list.

The Phillies didn’t say how long Hoskins is expected to be out. Hoskins, who turned 30 last week, hit six homers in Philadelphia’s playoff run last season. The Phillies lost to the Houston Astros in the World Series.

Philadelphia is already without DH and two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper for at least two months as he recovers from offseason elbow surgery.

Wainwright was in line for his seventh opening day start in what’s slated to be his final season. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told reporters Thursday before St. Louis’ spring training game against the New York Yankees that Wainwright could miss several weeks.

The 41-year-old apparently strained his groin in a workout before Team USA lost to Japan 3-2 in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday. Wainwright went 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA over eight innings to help the U.S. reach the final.

“We’ll continue to evaluate over the next few days but no timetable at the moment,” Marmol said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “There is a spot in the rotation now open, and we’re going to have to sit down and make sure that we’re not missing anything that goes into that.”

With Iglesias, the Braves said an MRI showed the right-hander has “low-grade” inflammation and will not throw for seven days. Iglesias was expected to move into the closer’s role after Kenley Jansen signed with the Boston Red Sox. Iglesias, 33, had a combined 17 saves last season for the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta.

It’s a fair assumption that Father Time will catch up with Justin Verlander one of these days. The three-time AL Cy Young Award winner is putting up quite a fight.

The 40-year-old Verlander signed with the New York Mets during the offseason and looks like he’s got plenty of good pitching left. The hard-throwing righty has a 2.25 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 16 innings in four starts during Grapefruit League action.

The Mets are hoping to squeeze another elite season out of Verlander and Max Scherzer, who is 38 years old. Scherzer has also had a solid spring training, giving up just one earned run over 11 2/3 innings.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida might have had his most enjoyable day in office when Japan’s winning World Baseball Classic team paid a visit. He was beaming when a gold medal from the winning team was placed around his neck and also happy when he received a large card in a frame containing each player’s signature.

Japan won the WBC by beating the United States in the final game 3-2. It was Japan’s third title in the WBC tournament. The United States and the Dominican Republic have each won it once.

The Cardinals welcomed back to camp Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, who played for Team USA, along with Lars Nootbaar, an outfielder for Team Japan. The Cardinals posted a picture of them stretching with the caption: “What do you think they are talking about!?”

Yu Darvish returned to the San Diego Padres after helping Team Japan to a WBC title. The right-hander was in Japan for the early stages of the tournament and then in Florida for the final rounds. He said he was “very appreciative” of the Padres letting him spend his preparation time with the Japanese team.

Bryan Cranston (you know, Walter White, from “Breaking Bad”) wants to “get that shift … outta here!”

The actor appeared in an ad for Major League Baseball in which he watched baseball clips and touted how the game has evolved with the new rule changes.

“This is the game we all want to see,” Cranston said in the commercial.