KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals placed left-hander Jason Vargas on the disabled list after an appendectomy and recalled reliever Louis Coleman from Triple-A Omaha before Thursday night’s game against Detroit.

Vargas began experiencing pain early Wednesday in Tampa, and underwent the procedure later in the day. He remained in Florida after the Royals beat the Rays to wrap up their series.

Vargas is off to the best start of his nine-year big league career. He’s 8-4 with 3.31 ERA in 19 starts, solidifying a rotation that lost Ervin Santana to free agency last season.

Coleman was a dominant reliever for the Royals last season, but he had an unsightly 6.41 ERA with the club this season. He’s been in Omaha trying to rediscover his form.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals All-Star catcher Yadier Molina will undergo surgery Friday to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb and will be sidelined eight to 12 weeks.

The Cardinals recalled catcher Audrey Perez from Triple-A Memphis before Thursday night’s game against Pittsburgh.

Molina was injured Wednesday when he planted his hand for balance after sliding feet-first into third base in the second inning. He caught another half-inning before Tony Cruz hit for him in the third.

Molina was voted to his sixth straight NL All-Star team Sunday and is a starter for the fourth time. He was hitting .287 with seven homers and 30 RBIs.

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Jack Hawksworth hit the wall at Pocono so hard that he hurt his heart. Hawksworth hopes the wreck won’t halt the momentum of his promising rookie season in IndyCar. Hawksworth arrived for pre-race preparations at Iowa Speedway on Thursday, just four days after being released from the hospital. Hawksworth missed last weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway after a nasty crash during a practice run.

The 23-year-old native of England was diagnosed with a myocardial contusion — more commonly known as a bruised heart — but he’s since been cleared to run on Saturday.

Class 4-A

1. Dallas Center-Grimes 36-1 1
2. Fort Dodge 30-7 2
3. Solon 35-1 3
4. Carlisle 31-2 4
5. Cedar Rapids Xavier 33-6 5
6. Ballard 26-6 6
7. Davenport Assumption 28-11 7
8. Fairfield 29-6 9
9. Indianola 23-11 13
10. West Delaware 28-7 8
11. Norwalk 25-11 11
12. North Scott 23-11 15
13. Oskaloosa 27-9 10
14. Keokuk 23-13 12
15. Waverly-Shell Rock 30-8 14

Dropped Out: None

Class 5-A

1. Johnston 31-3 1
2. Dowling Catholic 26-8 2
3. Southeast Polk 26-9 4
4. Muscatine 35-4 5
5. West Des Moines Valley 24-12 3
6. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 32-6 6
7. Pleasant Valley 28-8 8
8. Iowa City West 28-9 8
9. Linn-Mar 27-13 NR
10. Waukee 23-16 9

Dropped Out: Cedar Rapids Prairie (10)

w/ Jim Field

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Hawkeye 10:

• Atlantic 16-11, Sioux City West 0-6
• Glenwood 4, St. Albert 2
• Creston 11, Clarinda 1
• Kuemper Catholic 11, Red Oak 1 (6 innings)
• Carroll 12, Kuemper Catholic 4
• Glenwood 7, Abraham Lincoln 4
• Dallas Center-Grimes 3, Harlan 2
• Shenandoah 11, Nishnabotna 1

Western Iowa:

• Tri-Center 10-1, Griswold 0-9
• Missouri Valley 11-5, A-H-S-T 3-17
• Audubon 4, Guthrie Center 2
• Logan-Magnolia 13, Westwood 0 (6 innings)
• Treynor 10, Riverside 0 (5 innings)

Rolling Valley:

• Ar-We-Va 10, CAM 0 (5 innings)
• Exira/EHK 12, Boyer Valley 2
• Exira/EHK 13, Orient-Macksburg 0
• Coon Rapids-Bayard 6, Underwood 3

Others:

• Southwest Valley 8, Central Decatur 7

CLASS 1-A Quarterfinals:

• Glidden-Ralston 4, Charter Oak-Ute 0
• Exira/EHK 6, Stanton 5
• CAM 1, Griswold 0
• Mount Ayr 5, Lenox 2
• Martensdale- St. Marys 11, Guthrie Center 1 (6 innings)
• Bedford 9, Murray 4
• Westwood 11, West Harrison 6
• Essex 8, Fremont-Mills 3
• Ar-We-Va 9, Woodbine 5

CLASS 2-A Quarterfinals:

• Treynor 8, A-H-S-T 7
• Earlham 12, Van Meter 2 (5 innings)
• IKM-Manning 9, Southwest Valley 0
• Underwood 4, Logan-Magnolia 2
• Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto 7, Missouri Valley 3 (9 innings)
• St. Edmond 2, Panorama 0 (suspended in the top of the 3rd. Game will resume Thursday at 7:00 pm at Rogers Park)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lance Lynn reached double figures in wins before the All-Star break for the third straight year and Kolten Wong homered for the second game in a row, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates for the third straight time, 5-2 on Wednesday night. Matt Adams had three hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals, who will go for a four-game sweep over the NL Central rival they beat in the division series last fall on Thursday, although they might have to do it without All-Star catcher Yadier Molina.

Molina was removed for a pinch-hitter in the third inning with a sprained right thumb from sliding into third base and will be re-evaluated before the finale. He caught another half-inning before leaving the game. Neil Walker homered and doubled for Pittsburgh, which had won 12 of 15 entering the series and dropped the first two on game-winning, ninth-inning homers by Adams and Wong.

Cardinals C Molina leaves game with sprained thumb

ST. LOUIS (AP) — All-Star catcher Yadier Molina has been removed from the St. Louis Cardinals’ game against Pittsburgh in the third inning with a sprained right thumb. The team said the injury will be re-evaluated Thursday. A trainer attended to Molina on the field Wednesday night after he slid feet first into third base in the second inning. Molina remained in the game and caught the top of the third before he was lifted for pinch-hitter Tony Cruz in the bottom half.Cruz then replaced Molina behind the plate.Molina was voted to his sixth straight NL All-Star team Sunday and is a starter for the fourth time. He doubled in the second inning and was hitting .287 with seven homers and 30 RBIs.

CARDINALS-KELLY

Kelly set to return to Cardinals rotation

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly is set to return to the rotation Friday from a hamstring injury that’s sidelined him nearly three months. Kelly was injured running to first on April 17. He’s 1-1 with an 0.59 ERA in three starts heading into the start in Milwaukee and was 10-5 last year with a 2.69 ERA. The right-hander is one of three starters on the 15-day disabled list. Michael Wacha is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his pitching shoulder sustained in mid-June and lefty Jaime Garcia will undergo season-ending thoracic outlet surgery on Friday in St. Louis to relieve nerve issues that caused numbness and tingling in his shoulder, arm and hand resulting in a loss of feel for his pitches. Lefty Kevin Siegrist was set to begin a minor rehab stint from a forearm strain that landed him on the DL on May 24.

UNDATED (AP) — The Missouri Valley conference men’s basketball tournament will remain in St. Louis through at least 2018. St. Louis will host what’s become known as “Arch Madness” for the 25th straight year in March. The Valley announced Wednesday that St. Louis has also been awarded the 2016-18 tournaments and that it has an option to extend its deal with the city through 2020.

League Commissioner Doug Elgin says the Valley targeted St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Indianapolis and Las Vegas as prospective host cities before choosing to keep the tournament in St. Louis. The Valley’s stay in St. Louis is the second longest for a neutral site tournament, trailing only the Big East’s tenure in New York City